


I am Disastrous

by Ragnarok777



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Battle For Survival, Coming of Age, Drama, Hold on to your hats, Multi, Romance, Suspense, epic adventure
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-02
Updated: 2021-01-31
Packaged: 2021-03-07 21:40:03
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 53,569
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26774521
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ragnarok777/pseuds/Ragnarok777
Summary: Ladybug thought she could handle anything Hawk Moth could throw at her. And she was probably right. But the gaunt figure that approached her and Chat Noir in the Parisian café was not an akuma, an amok, or a servant of Hawk Moth. It was worse. So much worse than she could have ever imagined. Now they are locked in a battle for survival against a horrifying monster while Hawk Moth continues to make the situation more complicated. Worse still, Paris' champions have to keep an eye on an American newcomer who has learned far more than he bargained for.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Alya Césaire/Nino Lahiffe, Several others - Relationship
Comments: 3
Kudos: 13





	1. 1. The Status Quo Shatters

Greetings to you, potential reader. Before we dive into the story, I’ll give a short introduction. I came up with this fic idea shortly after “Timetagger” first premiered. However, due to ML’s chaotic and downright nonsensical manner in which episodes are released, certain canon episodes that take place “before” Timetagger created issues with the story’s setup. So, I am giving you this neat guide to show which episodes have and have not happened in this AU.

Backwarder- Happened as normal

Weredad- Happened as normal

Chameleon- Happened as normal

Animaestro- Happened as normal

Bakerix- Happened as normal

Silencer- Happened as normal

Oblivio- Happened as normal

Stormy Weather 2- Happened I guess (really irrelevant though)

Reflekdoll- Has **NOT** occurred in this AU

Oni-Chan – Happened as normal

Miraculer – Happened as normal

Puppeteer 2- Happened as normal

Desperada – Happened as normal.

Startrain- Happened as normal.

Kwamibuster- Has **NOT** occurred in this AU

Feast- Has **NOT** occurred in this AU. This fic should be seen as an alternate, darker version of Feast backstory. Thus, Fu is not in hiding and Hawk Moth doesn’t know his identity

Ikari Gozen- Has **NOT** occurred in this AU.

Party Crasher- Has **NOT** occurred in this AU.

Timetagger- Happened as normal.

Gamer 2.0- Happened as normal

Chat Blanc- Happened as normal.

Felix- Happened as normal. 

Ladybug- Happened as normal.

Christmaster- Has **NOT** occurred in this AU. Pretty much going to ignore any Christmas special/episode in this fic.

Heart Hunter- Has **NOT** occurred in this AU.

Miracle Queen- Has **NOT** occurred in this AU.

Miraculous World United Heroez- Has **NOT** occurred in this AU.

Hopefully, this guide will clear up any confusion you might have canon-wise. Also, since this story takes place in Paris, you can obviously assume most of the dialogue is in French. Occasionally I will use italics to indicate the conversation is in English or another language. If a French word is italicized **AND** underlined, it means I kept the statement in French for emphasis only. You can assume that the rest of the sentence is also in French since it’s just a stylistic choice on my part. I don’t plan on doing that too often as most of my French knowledge comes from Duolingo and Google Translate and I’d rather not embarrass myself. Also, I might add some song recommendations every now and then to set the mood for important scenes. There will be a small numbered musical note marker and an endnote at the end to guide you to the music should you choose to listen.

Now, without further ado:

** 1 **

**The Status Quo Shatters**

_Throughout history, mankind has been ravaged with horrific tragedy. And on each and every occasion, it was there, gorging itself on humanity's pain and suffering. Since the dawn of civilization, it has haunted the shadows of human existence, inflicting agony and death on all it embraces. It has been more than a hundred years since the darkness fell upon the new world. But the hour of evil is upon us once again. There is a vicious storm brewing, bringing winds of torment and a rain of terror. And with it comes the haunter, a parasitic monster who feeds on man's most primal emotions, seeking ecstasy in the torturous throes of human misery. No man, woman or child is safe from its wickedness_

“The Haunter Out of Time”- _In the Mouth of Madness_

Adrien had been a fan of _Le Singe Bleu_ for several months. It was a quaint little café nestled in the 8th arrondissement, only a few blocks away from the Arc de Triomphe. He had come to know the restaurant by pure luck. Ordinarily the young Agreste scion would not have the freedom to casually explore random Parisian cafes, but it had been a particularly busy photo shoot that day, and he and Nathalie hadn’t had time to stop by the mansion for lunch. Given a rare opportunity to choose a place to eat, he had set his sight on a street corner café with the emblem of a blue monkey hanging over the entrance and selected it.

The food was classic French fare, and while it could not compare to the masterful work of the chefs employed at home, Adrien basked in its simple, made-from-scratch goodness. The interior smelled of espresso and delectable pastries that reminded him fondly of the Dupain bakery of his friend Marinette. The servers were warm and courteous, engaging in small talk with Adrien and Nathalie. While the latter seemed less than enthused with the pleasantries, she played along and had let him enjoy this unfiltered view of Parisian café culture. After a few more chaperoned visits to _Le Singe Bleu_ , he became so enamored with the place that he decided if he ever managed to take Ladybug on a date, this café would be their destination. During some downtime at one of his photo shoots in a park, he took the opportunity to toss a coin in a fountain and make a wish, hoping lady luck would be on his side this time.

Several weeks later, he got his wish, though not quite in the way he was hoping. When he wished that he could take Ladybug there, he didn’t mean take her there by having them _crash land through the front door_ after being thrown from across the street by a seriously strong akuma.

And yet that was how he and Ladybug made their entrance to _Le Singe Bleu_. Glass shattered over the black and white tile floor, causing café goers to scream in terror and waiters to panic and spill platters of food everywhere. The superhero pair rolled together and landed in an ungraceful heap right in front of the hostess stand. The mustachioed and impeccably dressed host could only stare at them in stunned silence.

Chat Noir stared up at the horrified server and flashed a guilty grin. “Uh,” he began, “table for two?”

“GIVE ME YOUR MIRACULOUSES!” screamed a burly voice that was quickly approaching the café entrance.

“Okay maybe three,” Chat admitted, “but between you and me, we’d rather not sit with him.”

The patrons of the refined establishment screamed again as a seven-foot giant clad in a jet-black wrestling singlet broke the smashed door in completely and stormed in. His skin had been turned a dark shade of red and a wicked, enthusiastic grin was plastered on his face. Bulging biceps and pecs strained against his spandex as he eyed Ladybug and Chat Noir with bloodlust in his eyes.

“I AM HEAVYWEIGHT!” he declared. “Give me your miraculouses now before I’m forced to squash you, just like I’m going to squash my team for making fun of my size!”

Ladybug rose off the floor first, twirling her yo-yo in a defensive stance before turning to the people in the restaurant.

“Everyone get down!” she ordered.

The patrons didn’t argue. Everyone in the vicinity got down, some crawling towards the kitchen while others cowered in the corners, attempting to get as far away from the monstrous giant as possible.

Chat rose to his feet, casually brushing the dirt off his suit and then twirling his baton. “So what’s the plan my lady?”

The duo somersaulted backwards just as Heavyweight punched down, cracking the floor with the sheer force of his fist.

“...Other than avoiding getting flattened,” he added nervously.

The two edged their way back toward the barista stand and pastry display case as Ladybug cautiously observed their opponent. As she bit her lip in thought, her eyes homed in on a black ball of thin paper sticking out of the singlet against his right pectoral muscle.

“The tissue!” she exclaimed, “That must be where the akuma is hiding.”

“MEN DON’T CRY!” Hawk Moth’s thrall protested, apparently incapable of using his inside voice.

His two fists came down together as Ladybug and Chat Noir sidestepped in opposite directions. Instead of hitting his targets, the display case was destroyed in a shower of broken glass and lukewarm French baked goods.

Ladybug swung her yo-yo around the akuma’s legs and pulled tight. Her muscles strained as she barely managed to pull Heavyweight’s feet closer together.

“Now!” she ordered through clenched teeth. “Take him down!”

Chat, quickly gathering her meaning, swung his baton at the giant’s legs in an effort to sweep him. Heavyweight cried out in enraged pain, but to the heroes’ shock, the enemy’s impossibly thick legs held firm. Instead, he looked down at the cat superhero with murderous intent in his eyes.

Chat Noir swallowed hard. “Uh oh.”

A hand the size of Adrien’s torso grabbed him and squeezed, making his eyes bulge and pushing the air out of his lungs.

“Not the rib cage!” Chat squeaked in agony, “I kinda need that unbroken…”

Assessing the situation, Ladybug retracted her weapon and launched the yo-yo again, this time nailing Heavyweight in his right eye. As he grabbed his face in pain, his grip on Chat loosened. Her partner grabbed him and pulled him over the barista stand to relative safety. They found themselves hiding out of sight, surrounded by stacks of plates, mugs, and containers used for dirty dishes.

Chat clutched his chest as his ability to breathe gradually returned to him.

“Not to nitpick,” he wheezed, “but I think Lucky Charm might be in order.”

Ladybug nodded in agreement and tossed her yo-yo in the air, calling out the name of her special power which emerged in a flurry of circulating energy. The object that emerged from her superpower was a polka-dot red and black plastic tube about a meter long.

Chat sighed. “I was really hoping for a big hammer this time.”

Two massive hands grabbed onto the wooden counter, causing the duo to yelp with a matching _oh crap_ expression written on their faces. They cautiously looked up to see Heavyweight glaring at them with Hawk Moth’s purple butterfly-shaped mask on his face. Whatever their arch-nemesis was saying to their opponent, it was doing nothing to ease his rage as the counter started to crack and splinter under the strain of his grip.

“Would have to agree with you there,” Ladybug gulped. “Quick! Can you distract him long enough for me to figure this out?”

For a split second, Chat seemed to hesitate. But when Heavyweight reached to grab Ladybug, the feline superhero attacked. Using the barista stand as a springboard, he leaped onto the enemy and got behind his neck, resting his knees on both shoulders. The akuma growled as Adrien tauntingly leaned towards the right side of his enemy’s massive head.

“As long as you need my lady,” Chat said before turning his attention back to the behemoth, “You’re not still mad at the whole ‘sweep the leg thing’ are you?”

Heavyweight punched at Chat Noir, but the cat quickly pivoted to the left side, letting the akuma punch himself instead. His legs wobbled a bit from the self-inflicted blow but eventually stopped.

Chat’s game, on the other hand, did not. “Not even close,” he shook his head disapprovingly, “Hawk Moth really picked a dud this time.”

An enraged left punch barreled toward Chat only to achieve the same result as he returned to his original position. “Nope, still missed me.”

Heavyweight attempted another punch and yet again the cat triumphed with a smug grin plastered on his face.

“You know I thought I had a pun about not hitting yourself, but you’re so stupid I think it’s rubbing off on me,” he declared with fake concern.

The charade continued for at least thirty seconds as the giant repeatedly tried and failed to land a blow on his target. His body swayed from the repeated hits to himself but due to either the density of his head or sheer stubbornness he refused to yield. The Hawk Moth mask lit up again, no doubt demanding that his villain quit being an idiot. Intelligent this akuma was not.

In the meantime, Ladybug had not been idle. As the wheels of her mind turned, her scheming eyes locked onto a juicer resting on a shelf that was filled to the brim with oranges. Her internal black and red vision then eyed her partner, his staff, and finally a small open storage closet near the restrooms. Within a matter of moments her plan weaved itself into existence. A devious smile appeared on her face.

She placed the plastic tube on her shoulder with one end aiming towards Heavyweight and the other end wedged against the bottom of the juicer near the spout. “Chat!” she called out to her partner.

He briefly turned his attention away from his game to see Ladybug pointing to the juicer with her free hand. His eyes widened with realization as the message sunk in. He leaped off the monster’s shoulders onto the counter only to feel himself being pulled back by his belt tail.

“I’M GOING TO SKIN YOU ALIVE LITTLE KITTY!” Heavyweight bellowed.

Chat strained against the pull, desperately reaching forward to the juicer. Using his legs against the counter as leverage, he got within centimeters of the juicer. Fearing he would lose the battle of strength any second, he didn’t waste any time.

“Cataclysm!” he shouted.

As soon as his right hand radiated the destructive energy, Ladybug grabbed his wrist and closed the distance to the appliance. Chat was immediately pulled back towards the enemy and ended up colliding with the opposite wall, but the brief touch was enough. The machine sparked and malfunctioned. The glass cracked. The internal parts went haywire, sending a volley of oranges through the lucky charm tube and pelting Heavyweight mercilessly. The fruits exploded everywhere, coating the akuma, the walls, and even Chat Noir. Juice began to accumulate on the floor, so when the giant attempted to attack Ladybug, he began to slip and lose his footing.

 _Now_ she thought. _It has to be now_. Not wasting a second, she dropped the tube and flung her yo-yo around the giant’s massive wrist and pulled him in the direction of the storage closet. Heavyweight heaved to his right, struggling to stay upright against Ladybug’s pull and the liquid mess below his feet.

“Baton!” she shouted to Chat.

Despite his rough encounter with the wall, the black cat responded quickly. He threw and extended his baton, causing it to be wedged between the barista bar and the wall he was leaning against. When Heavyweight faltered against Ladybug and the slippery floor, the baton waiting to trip him proved to be the _coup de grâce._ He landed headfirst into the storage closet. Given his massive size, his shoulders and head became trapped in the narrow doorway while the rest of him struggled vainly on the floor of the café.

Ladybug triumphantly cracked her knuckles and effortlessly removed the tissue from the singlet. “And that’s how it’s done,” she declared.

Her smile wavered slightly as Chat approached her. Covered heat to toe in orange juice and pulp, the cat crossed his arms over his chest and gave her a pouting look.

“Sorry Chat, I couldn’t think of anything else to beat him.”

“Understood _buginette,_ but next time we face an akuma can we keep the fruit barrage to a minimum?”

Ladybug smiled and rolled her eyes. “I’ll do my best. At least it’s not garbage this time.”

“We promised never to speak of that akuma again my lady.”

“Oh, it wasn’t just _that akuma_ ,” Ladybug recalled as she placed her index finger near her chin, “didn’t you fall into a dumpster three weeks ago?”

Chat turned away in mocked outrage. “Also something we promised not to speak of.”

In the midst of their banter neither they nor the still cowering patrons noticed the gaunt, lanky figure quietly approaching the counter from the other side of the café.

Ladybug’s miraculous gave off its second warning beep, closely followed by Chat’s first beep.

“Okay time to wrap this up,” she said as she ripped up the paper.

The akuma emerged from the tissue, attempting to fly away. At the same time, Heavyweight disappeared in a black haze to reveal a small young teenager in a red singlet, looking up at the heroes with confusion and noticeable tear stains in his eyes.

“No more evil doing for you little akuma,” Ladybug said, as she wound up her yo-yo to pounce, “time to de-evil-”

The simple formality of purifying an akuma was instantly shattered when a hand reached out from nowhere and grabbed the black butterfly. A short man, only about 1.7 meters in height, stood before them. He wore jeans that had been considerably torn up, almost as if an animal had nearly ripped it to shreds. He was barefoot with a strange greenish tinge covering his feet. Despite the hot August weather in Paris, the man wore a thick jacket that had a dark red color resembling human blood. Though Ladybug and Chat Noir only got a sideways glance at his face, he appeared to be a young man of East Asian descent. Yet his skin was profoundly pale, lighter in complexion than any individual from even the whitest Nordic nation. The superhero duo watched him dumbstruck, stunned that he was just staring fixedly but calmly at a still corrupt and moving akuma. ♪1♪

As the man turned away from the pair to face the restaurant entrance, Ladybug finally broke out of her shock and reached toward the man. “Sir drop that thing immediately! It’s not safe! It could turn you into an akuma!”

What followed sent an instant wave of disgust and panic among the people in the restaurant watching from their hiding places. Ladybug and Chat Noir’s hearts nearly leapt out of their chests and their mouths fell agape in disbelief. Though the man was facing away from them, his head turned back to face them. Except his body remained perfectly still. His head swiveled on its own, turning in an impossible three-hundred-and-sixty-degree angle on his neck to stare at them while the rest of his body faced the opposite direction. This man…this thing…eyed the superheroes, remaining expressionless for a moment. Then his mouth slowly but surely widened to unveil a bizarre and chilling Cheshire grin that stretched all the way to his _ears._ His disturbing smile revealed a set of teeth that were sharply pointed, almost canine and predatory in their appearance. 

The two superheroes didn’t hear the next beeping of their miraculouses. They remained staring, unmoving. Chat managed to recover himself enough to glance at Ladybug, the look in his eyes silently sending her a desperate plea for an explanation. Her partner didn’t see it. Her gaze remained transfixed on the creature in front of them appearing confused and…lost.

The distinctly inhuman man tilted his head to the side with his unholy grin still plastered on his face. The torso and legs then twisted in place away from the café entrance to sync up with the head. His head slowly and almost mechanically returned to its normal position above the torso. He stepped forward and opened his mouth. The voice that emerged was raspy and strained, as if he had smoked for several decades. Yet though his speech appeared weak, it possessed a low but definite growling sound that followed every word.

“Oh, I apologize Ladybug and Chat Noir,” he said, “but you see-”

He briefly paused to look at the akuma, his expression eager and ravenous. “-I am quite famished.”

He shoved the creature into his mouth and swallowed it in one gulp, licking his mouth to savor the brief taste he received. The black and purple energy could be seen through his body as the glow traveled down the esophagus and towards the stomach area. It was then abruptly extinguished. A second later, Chat’s baton fell to the floor. Ladybug’s left hand started to shake.

The akuma eater took one step towards them. Ladybug and Chat Noir quietly took two steps back.

“That was delicious,” he said with the same unnatural smile on his face, “though it pales in comparison to the real deal. Akumas are a good appetizer, but they always leave you craving the flesh of your…miraculous prey.”

 _Did he just say…prey?_ Adrien asked himself, his heart rate accelerating rapidly.

 _What…is…that thing?_ Marinette thought, her left hand now trembling violently.

“You’re both so young,” his voice soured in apparent disappointment. “Perhaps I should wait for you to mature a bit more. We shouldn’t rush the harvest too much.”

He frowned and scratched his chin in deep thought. “Then again, if I wait too long, you might get strong enough to actually beat me. That would be too risky. Better do it now.”

He stepped forward again and the superheroes retreated backwards up to the entrance of the storage closet. The wrestler akuma victim, having witnessed the whole event, covered his mouth to stifle a scream and backed up further into the closet.

The gaunt creature then stopped again, holding out his hands and shaking his head disapprovingly. “No, no not now. Soon but not now. Have to let them marinate at least a little. Must be patient.”

He picked up a mug from the barista counter and threw it against the wall near the heads, making the two jump in shock. It shattered into a dozen pieces. Chat Noir desperately grabbed at his baton and moved into a corner, clutching the weapon in the best defensive stance he could muster.

“Ladybug and Chat Noir,” he began as a sickly green smoky haze emerged from the floor behind him. It rose and coalesced to form a distinctive image. The image of a tiger’s open mouth.

“You are going to die,” he stated nonchalantly. “Both of you. Not today, not tomorrow, not next week. Could be a month, could be several months. I haven’t decided yet. I’m so bad at timing these things until the last minute. But regardless of when, you will die sometime soon. You and everyone who’s been unfortunate enough to use a miraculous are as good as dead as of this moment.”

When the creature ceased speaking, the pair remained silent and frozen in place. A sharp, strangled gasp came out of Ladybug’s open mouth as she dug her fingers into the wall behind her. Chat’s face lost its color. His clawed hands locked onto his baton in a death grip. While his partner remained almost catatonic as she stared at the monster, Adrien’s eyes attempted to avoid the horrid face that watched them hungrily. The movement in his gaze brought his attention to a small group of reporters that had congregated near the café entrance. Cameras were aimed directly at the intruder’s back.

 _How…how much of that did they see?_ he asked himself as coherent thoughts slowly returned to him.

A second followed in which no one moved…or breathed. Then one of the cameramen, perhaps more bold than wise, stepped a few feet closer to get a better angle on the figure menacing Paris’ champions. The creature tilted its head ever so slightly, his eyes following the cautious footsteps approaching from behind.

A wave of panic rushed over Chat, kicking him out of his stupor. “GET AWAY FROM HIM!” he yelled, “THIS THING IS NOT HUMAN!”

As if on cue the people in the restaurant screamed and rushed towards the exits, knocking over the Parisian press to get as far away as possible. Back inside the monster twisted his repulsively gleeful face toward the feline hero. In one stroke he grabbed Chat’s baton and pulled him closer with a level of strength that did not match his size.

“How right you are my delicious little friend,” he said as a long grayish tongue licked his sharp teeth.

His mouth became unhinged at an almost ninety-degree angle relative to his jaw, revealing row upon row of piercing teeth. His face briefly became covered in black fur and took the shape of a predatory big cat, which dramatically increased the size of his carnivorous jaw. An exploding roar poured through his gaping maw, rattling the café and stopping Chat’s heart. He became utterly paralyzed and white as a sheet. He could do nothing as the thing approached, slowly and methodically taking in his scent with a voracious gleam in his eyes.

A yo-yo twisted around Chat’s chest and pulled him back towards the wall. Ladybug grabbed him and pulled him in the opposite corner in the direction of the kitchen. Her hands reached around his chest and held him tightly. Locked in her panicked embrace, Adrien could feel her partner’s heart hammering at her rib cage. Her yo-yo spun around rapidly in front of them, forming a shield against the enemy that inched towards them. His jaw pulled itself apart again and unleashed another soul crushing roar that shattered the glasses on the bar. Chat Noir covered his ears and screamed in agony while Ladybug shut her eyes and trembled like a child. The monster cackled like a hyena and sniffed the air, savoring the smell of their terror.

Then without warning the laughter came to an abrupt end. The monster’s laughter was replaced by a low growl. Ladybug cautiously opened one eye. He was not growling at them but behind them, glaring at a white disk that had appeared in the wall opposite them. Ladybug opened both eyes and inhaled sharply as the portal suddenly seemed familiar.

“Her again,” the entity hissed.

Bunnyx burst through the disk with both hands on her parasol, ready to attack. In a furious strike she knocked the monster onto a nearby table. The force of the collision splintered the wood into several pieces.

The rabbit hero of the future charged her enemy again and shouted, “Burrow!”

Another portal opened up behind the monster. In one fluid motion Bunnyx tackled him into the opening and the two disappeared in a flash. Paris’ heroes, who were still huddled in a corner, suddenly found themselves alone in the café.

Ladybug stopped spinning her yo-yo, letting it clank against the floor. Her hands dug into her hair and the rate of her breathing increased heavily. She stared off at nothing as her chest heaved up and down. Chat slowly and cautiously laid a hand on her shoulder as her partner seemed close to hyperventilating.

“Ladybug?” he asked gently.

She didn’t respond at first. She merely looked at him, opening her mouth but unable to form words. The second to last spot on her earrings started to beep.

“My lady, you don’t have much time,” he said. He crawled over to the bar area and fetched the plastic tube that was her lucky charm. “You need to fix everything and then we need to get out of here…and try to figure this out.”

His partner nodded mechanically, her gaze still staring off into space. Without even looking, she threw the tube into the air. “M-M-Miraculous Ladybug,” she stammered as she tossed it in the air.

In a flurry of red light, the café was made right again. The front doors were fixed, the tables and floor were repaired, and the juicer was un-cataclysmed. Normalcy returned to _Le Singe Bleu._

Unfortunately, the restoration of the café also apparently gave the Parisian press the green light to pounce. In an instant they poured into the restaurant and swarmed over the shell-shocked heroes. Chat barely noticed his second to last miraculous warning as the wave of questions assaulted them.

“Ladybug and Chat Noir, who was that new villain?” one asked.

“Is he a new ally of Hawk Moth?” asked another.

“Is that thing a human with powers or a real monster? Are the people of Paris safe?” a third demanded.

Chat grabbed Ladybug’s hand and motioned to the kitchen. “Time to go.”

They busted through the doors and ran, trying to put as much distance between them and the reporters as possible. Before the kitchen doors closed behind them, Ladybug took one look back. As the crowd of reporters prepared to follow them, she spotted white pieces of broken ceramic on the floor. The mug that the monster threw at them was still shattered.

Ψ

The large circular window in the dome slowly closed, covering the chamber in darkness. Hawk Moth continued staring forward, his face contorted in a combination of disbelief and disgust. He took a few steps backward, swallowing his own saliva. His throat felt dry. There were no curses against Ladybug and Chat Noir this time. No promises of retribution or redoubled efforts to claim their miraculouses. Nothing but stunned silence and a strange weight forming in the pit of his stomach.

His akuma had not been purified. With his powers Hawk Moth had sensed the butterfly go down that creature’s throat, moving down its esophagus, and then it was just… _gone._ No trace of it remained. It had been reduced to nothing.

The villain of Paris tightened his grip on his cane, trying to keep his hands steady. His mind raced, desperately searching for answers.

 _One thing is certain_ , he thought, _that creature is not human and is obviously a threat_.

“Dark wings fall,” he said, releasing his transformation in a quick flash.

Returning to his civilian appearance as Gabriel Agreste, he adjusted his suit jacket and took a few calming breaths. He heard his kwami slowly and cautiously approach. When he opened his eyes, Gabriel saw Nooroo avoiding his gaze and trembling. The purple creature stiffened as his master cleared his throat impatiently. Nooroo reluctantly looked up to face him. There was a deep and overwhelming fear present in his small eyes. And Hawk Moth doubted it was purely a fear of him.

“You have a lot of explaining to do,” he told his kwami in a cold but menacing tone.

**1♪ Music recommendation: “Something Wicked this Way Comes” by Raydia (Jenny Music) ♪**

[ **https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZds2v8e3-U** ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZds2v8e3-U)


	2. The Monster Under Your Bed is Real

** 2 **

**The Monster Under Your Bed is Real**

_Fear isn't so difficult to understand. After all, weren't we all frightened as children? Nothing has changed since Little Red Riding Hood faced the big bad wolf. What frightens us today is exactly the same sort of thing that frightened us yesterday. It's just a different wolf. This fright complex is rooted in every individual_ _._

-Alfred Hitchcock

As a young child Marinette had once feared the monster lurking under her bed, or in some instances her closet. She tried to be brave when her mother or father would turn off the light as they put her to bed, tried to not think about it when they closed the door and left her alone. But darkness, even darkness dimmed by a child’s night light, sent shivers down her body. The fear that something might be there, lurking in the shadows, crept uninvited into her mind and made her hide her face in her blanket every time the floor creaked beneath her. She would occasionally turn on the light and crawl down to look and feel relieved when there was nothing there. But her fear would instantly return when the lights were out again, as she knew that somehow, some way it was back below the bed again.

Occasional nightmares came and went. She would run to her parents and cry, asking to sleep in their bed. The first few times they allowed this request, but eventually her father Tom would take her back to her room, turn on the lights, and show her the empty closet and space underneath her bed. Slowly and patiently he used his adult logic to settle her unease.

“There’s nothing there Mari,” he explained as he patted her head, “no monster is here, and no monster will ever be here. The dark and the noises just play tricks on you. You may not be able to see under your bed when it’s dark, but that doesn’t mean something is there. Trust your Papa on this one.”

Marinette would nod and then hug her dad before going back to bed, repeating her dad’s reasoning in her head. Slowly the nights became easier to manage and the nightmares began to fade. As she got older, her fears subsided until they disappeared completely. Occasionally as she went to bed, she would remember that old fear and laugh at her own silliness. And now that she was Ladybug and regularly battled akumas and Hawk Moth, the memories of her childish terror had almost disappeared entirely.

But as Chat pulled her along the Parisian rooftops with their miraculouses critically low on time, the familiar feeling of childhood terror returned to her with perfect clarity. What they had faced in that café was a real monster. Akumas were merely corrupted humans whose negative emotions had been exploited. Hawk Moth and Mayura were dangerous, but they were just humans hiding behind the power of their abused miraculouses. She could handle those enemies. They were normal, just part of her job.

Today was different. That grotesque and hellish creature hiding behind fake human skin was undoubtedly a monster. A monster whose voice and impossible actions had chilled her to the bone. A monster that truly was out to get her and had said so to her face. A monster who had not so subtly suggested that he planned on _eating_ both her and Chat. A monster that checked off all the boxes of traits that would have terrified Marinette’s child self. Even worse, the monster was far more horrifying than her younger self could have possibly imagined. The now older, present day Marinette found herself wanting the protection of the blanket again.

These thoughts kept her from resisting Chat’s guidance as he pulled her along, refusing to let go of her hand. He scanned the rooftops around them like a hunted animal, his senses working in overdrive to make sure his eyes and ears were alert to the slightest sound and movement. He briefly glanced back to check on her and then plowed on straight ahead.

Ladybug’s miraculous beeped urgently, letting her know that she was well under a minute left from transforming back. She barely registered the noise. Ordinarily she would have broken out of Chat’s grasp and rushed off to a private spot to change back, but her nearly paralyzed mind appeared to refuse to let her let go of her partner’s protective hand. A hand that pulled her with greater urgency as his last miraculous warning went off as well.

They hopped to another building and Chat looked down and pointed. “There!” he cried.

Ladybug looked down to see an urban garden in a gap between two buildings. Flowers, produce, and other plants filled the entire area. Some of those plants were tall enough in places to reach the height of the wooden fence surrounding the enclosure. Chat extended his baton to the ground and held Ladybug by the waist as he slowly retracted his weapon and carried her down. He found a spot for her on one side of a rock wall and jumped to the other side.

He stayed on the ground on all fours, scanning the area for any possible ambush. Satisfied, he took a deep breath, “Okay you can transform there, I’ll go-”

A burst of light came over the other side of wall as Ladybug’s transformation gave way. Chat’s body tensed as the knowledge that his partner’s exposed identity was on the other side sunk in. He pursed his lips, trying to push away the thought.

He cleared his throat. “Uh, I guess I’ll go into the next alley and-”

“DON’T LEAVE ME!” a voice behind him shouted loud enough to send a shock down Chat’s spine.

On the other side of the wall, Marinette Dupain-Cheng clutched her knees close to her chest and held her kwami in her hands. Tikki seemed exhausted and barely able to open her eyes, but her little body was trembling violently. When Tikki did fully look up at her, the absolute _dread_ etched on the little red creature’s face made Marinette tremble as well.

She could not hide the urgency in her voice as she spoke to Chat again. “Please…just stay here for a bit. I-I don’t want you to leave yet.”

The shakiness in his lady’s voice momentarily surprised him. But her words and the sense of desperation behind them set off a strong mental voice inside him that cried out _protect protect protect_.

“I’ll stay as long as you need,” he replied

He released his transformation without hesitation and leaned against the wall. Plagg fell in his hands, his tiny black body shivering even though the August heat was bearing down on them. Adrien looked down on him in alarm.

“Plagg?” he asked, his voice full of anxiety.

“No…no,” his kwami said weakly as his yellow eyes lit up with horror, “he can’t be back… it’s not possible!”

“Who can’t be back?” Adrien demanded.

Plagg swallowed hard before answering. “Shouwang.”

“Shouwang?” Adrien repeated as he felt his blood ran cold.

“Tikki? Tikki?” Marinette asked from the other side. “Why are you looking at me like that? What’s going on? Who is this Shouwang?”

There was an exceptionally long pause before Tikki replied. “You two are in grave danger. We need to contact Master Fu…immediately.”

Adrien handed his kwami a small piece of camembert, which Plagg held close to his mouth. Instead of immediately swallowing it, he nibbled on it, trying to savor it and let it mentally carry him elsewhere. “Don’t think about it…. don’t think about it…just focus on the cheese.”

Adrien gently touched the top of the black cat’s head and stared at him intently. “Plagg, tell us. Who is Shouwang?

“An enemy, no, _the enemy_ of Ladybug and Chat Noir,” he answered cautiously, “And I don’t mean just you two. I mean the past users as well.”

“The past users?” Adrien repeated. “You mean to tell me this monster has faced the previous owners of our miraculouses? Why didn’t you tell us?!”

Plagg groaned and looked away, his body shivering again. “We thought we got rid of him last time.”

“Last time?” Marinette asked as she overhead their conversation. “What happened last time?”

Tikki slowly sat up and then levitated toward her chosen. Her expression was pained as she gingerly touched Marinette’s face. “We’ve said too much already. Master Fu will explain everything. Plagg and I…we’d rather not go into further detail.”

The red kwami didn’t speak further but held onto her human’s face with both of her tiny hands. Marinette instinctively responded in kind, holding Tikki against her cheek as she tried to steady her breathing. For almost a minute she remained deathly silent.

“Ladybug?” Adrien asked. “Are you…going to be okay?”

A long ten seconds passed before he got a reply. “I-I need a minute. Please don’t leave yet, okay?”

He nodded. “Of course.”

Plagg disappeared into his shirt, quietly finishing his cheese and refusing to communicate further. Adrien stared up at the fading afternoon light filtering through the bushes in front of him and wiped the sweat of his brow. He closed his eyes and sighed, tapping his fingers against his right knee. A long moment of silence continued on the other side of him, and his face soured in response.

She had asked, no… _demanded,_ that he stay with her. But at the same time, he felt so far away. Seeing Ladybug afraid was quite rare, but Adrien sensed unmistakable fear in her voice. She needed someone to reassure her, to physically hold her and try to comfort her. But that wasn’t possible if they were to keep their identities hidden from one another, something Ladybug had insisted on time and time again. He could offer her some words of encouragement, but he reasoned that it would not be as nearly as effective as holding her close to him.

Adrien wrung his hands together in frustration, attempting to think of a solution. He looked down at the rock wall and noticed a gap in the stones at the bottom. Interest piqued, he crouched down and examined the opening. It was somewhat small, but he could clearly see out the other side. Cautiously he reached his right hand forward and tested the opening to see if his hand could get through. A smile crossed his lips when he managed to pull his hand back without getting stuck.

“Ladybug,” he said as he adjusted his position and reached his hand through again. He tapped the ground on her side to get her attention.

Marinette looked down in surprise to see a bare hand, the bare hand of her partner, reaching out to her from a gap in the other side. His fingers were curled slightly, inviting her to come closer.

“My lady,” the voice on the other side said, “I wish I could be there for you right now. I know I can’t, and I respect that. But please know I’m not going anywhere, and no matter what this Shouwang tries to do, I won’t leave your side.” 

Adrien continued holding his hand out, waiting. For a moment he feared it would be rejected. Then a minor jolt followed by a deep feeling of warmth overcame him as a bare hand, the bare hand of _his lady_ , embraced his. His eyes widened as the realization sunk in. He mentally told his heart to stop beating so fast. It ignored him.

“Thank you _minou_ ,” Marinette said with a smile, “I’m sorry for yelling. This whole thing, it’s just-”

“No apologies are necessary,” Adrien assured her.

Marinette took a deep cleansing breath and then stared down at her partner’s hand, running her thumb along the space between his thumb and index finger. She raised an eyebrow as she felt the smoothness of his skin.

_That’s odd_ , she thought, _I didn’t think Chat of all people would have such soft and delicate skin. What kind of moisturizer is he using?_

She gingerly rotated his hand slightly to look at his fingers. _And his nails are so…clean and polished. Has he been getting a manicure? Seriously Chat, how is it that you have such a gorgeous looking ha-?_

“So, I assume you’re going to contact Master Fu?”

Marinette blinked absently for a moment and then stammered. “Uh…uh yeah. I will. Do that. As soon as possible…Um…why don’t you and I meet at the top of Notre-Dame around 20:00? I should have more answers for you then.”

“Sounds like a plan,” he replied as he leaned against the rock wall. He delicately tapped his fingers against the back of her hand and smiled. “Maybe it’s not as bad as we think. After all, if Bunnyx has come to help, we have an advantage, right?”

“Yeah, she’s probably got it under control. At least for now.”

_But for how long?_ Marinette wondered as the mental images of Shouwang in the café came back with renewed vigor. A shudder went down her spine as she unwillingly recalled his sickening neck rotation and appalling grin. She closed her eyes and tightened her grip on Chat’s hand.

“My lady, are you okay over there?” Adrien asked, feeling the squeeze.

“No Chat, I’m not,” Marinette answered, her voice shaky again. “I don’t think I’ve ever been this scared in my life.”

Adrien turned his head toward the wall to face in her direction. His hand touched the stone. “You and me both. When he got close to me, I froze in sheer terror. I couldn’t move. I couldn’t breathe. If you hadn’t pulled me back, I could have-”

“Don’t finish that thought. The important thing is that it didn’t happen.”

“And I have you to thank for that. So…thank you.”

Marinette placed her other hand on top of his. “You’re my partner Chat. And my friend. Of course I wasn’t going to leave you at the mercy of that monster.”

Adrien leaned his head against the stone, a tremor moving through his body as he relived the memory. A lump began to form in his throat, but it faded as the warmth of her additional hand coursed through him. He exhaled in relief. “Thank you,” he said again.

Marinette touched the wall, delicately tracing her fingers over the stone. “No, thank you for staying. I’m going to leave in a little bit, but I will see you at Notre-Dame. In the meantime, please…stay safe.”

He smirked and opened his mouth, tempted to make some wisecrack remark about how his lady was worried about him. At the last moment he bit his tongue. _Not the time Agreste_ , he chided himself.

“I’ll be careful,” he assured her.

He said nothing as Ladybug’s hands gradually separated from his. He listened to her stand up and walk away toward the entrance of the garden. Adrien stayed behind, making sure to give her at least a two-minute head start before moving. He pulled his hand out of the gap and looked at it a moment.

The heat of her touch was still there. He could feel it and he didn’t want it to leave him. It was not the first time he had held her hand, but it was the first time he had done so completely unmasked. He couldn’t see her face but touching her hand without the suit still made his stomach flutter. It was far more personal than holding her hand as Chat and Ladybug. Far more intimate.

_If only it had happened under better circumstances_ , he thought.

Ψ

Chat Noir arrived at Notre-Dame just as the last glimmering of fading sunlight began to disappear over the horizon. He landed on the scaffolding behind the North Tower and tried to stay in the shadows. Seeing that Ladybug hadn’t shown up yet, Chat twirled his baton absentmindedly and looked down at the nave of the church. He grimaced. The rebuilding process from the devastating fire was well under way, but much of the collapsed roof still had to be covered to protect the exposed church interior from the elements.

Sighing, he glanced around. The evidence of the conflagration was all around him. Many of the balustrades and buttresses had been blackened by the flames. Statues of saints and gargoyles alike were coated in soot, giving them a hellish appearance. The transept had been ravaged. The heat had been so intense that even some of the exterior north and south facades had been darkened. Chat walked cautiously along the scaffolding, tail hanging low as he looked up at the spire. Or, more accurately, at the area where the spire had been not too long ago.

_We should have gotten here faster_ , Chat told himself.

The memories of that day slowly played back in his head. Adrien Agreste had a photo shoot that late afternoon at the Jardin des Champs-Élysées. As it was wrapping up, large clouds of smoke started to appear from the direction of the river. Despite his best efforts to find an excuse to disappear and transform, Nathalie had forced him to go home with the Gorilla. By the time he escaped through his bedroom window and had sprinted towards the church, people were already gathering at the banks of the Seine. Their faces were awash with dread. Parisians, both young and old, covered their mouths as the fate of their beloved cathedral hung in the balance.

He crossed over to Île de la Cité just as Ladybug arrived from the other direction. At first, the crowds cheered with renewed hope and clamored for their heroes to save Notre-Dame. Their joy was short-lived. As soon as Paris’ champions reached the army of firefighters, the torched main spire slowly bent before collapsing entirely. Chat heard cries of horror coming from both sides of the riverbank. Ladybug’s face turned ashen as one of the firemen explained that an akuma was not believed to be involved. It took a moment for him to realize why that was a bad thing.

_Miraculous Ladybug won’t be able to undo the damage_ , he thought. The sudden epiphany made him feel nauseous.

“CHAT HURRY!” Ladybug cried in alarm as she threw her yo-yo in the direction of the blaze. “We need to save her! We need to save her now!”

The next half hour was a blur. Chat took one of the fire hoses and used his extended baton to get as close to the fire as possible. Even with the protection of his suit, the heat from the raging inferno in front of him nearly seared his skin. His eyes burned as he tried to dump as much water as he could onto the flames that were devouring the roof. But at that point, it was a nearly lost cause. The oak timbers holding up the medieval Gothic structure had turned the nave into a bonfire, and as soon as Chat seemed to have one area under control, another would threaten to cave the roof in even further. Then the wind shifted, and black acrid smoke started to fill his lungs. He held out for as long as he could, but eventually the need for clean air forced him to retreat to the ring of firefighters.

Ladybug wasn’t far behind. She had manned a deluge gun on a raised firefighting platform on the opposite side of the church, using the protection of her suit to get closer than a firefighter would normally dare. She had even gone inside to help rescue a few priceless relics. But her lungs were just as vulnerable as Chat’s, and soon enough they were both a coughing, wheezing mess. Despite their protests, medics at the scene forced the duo to put on oxygen masks and recover while the firefighters continued the fight without them. In the end, those brave men and women were the ones who saved Notre-Dame from total ruin. Paris’ intrepid heroes could do little but watch while the cleansing air from their masks slowly removed the smoke from their gasping lungs.

“If I had been at home at the time, I could have stopped it,” a voice behind him said.

Chat, having been lost in thought, hadn’t heard his partner approach him. Caught off guard by the sudden voice, he tensed and whirled around with his baton at the ready.

“Whoa, whoa!” Ladybug said, holding her hands up, “it’s just me. I…didn’t mean to scare you.”

Chat relaxed. “It’s fine. I’m…paws-ibly a little jumpy today is all.”

The bug themed superhero rolled her eyes. “You and me both _minou_.”

She walked up next to him and surveyed the ravaged nave of the cathedral. Sighing, she closed her eyes and shook her head. Chat cautiously put a comforting paw on her shoulder.

“We did what we could,” he tried to assure her.

“Not enough,” she countered, “If I had been remembered to bring my fire potion to transform my kwami into Fire Tikki, it might have gone better.”

“Well I had my fire power-up in my bag, but I totally forgot to use it to make Plaggferno. So, I think I messed up a lot worse than you,” he admitted with a laugh.

Ladybug gave a slight chuckle but the mirth in her face quickly died. Noticing this, Chat awkwardly cleared his throat and changed the subject.

“Anyway, what did Master Fu say?”

If any playfulness remained in Ladybug’s expression before, it was gone in that moment. A serious and uneasy one took its place. “He wants to meet us.”

“When?”

“Now,” she answered. “He’s expecting us at his place.”

“Did he seem,” Chat paused before continuing, “worried when you talked to him?”

Ladybug averted eye contact with him for a moment. She fumbled with her yo-yo, passing it from hand to hand. She looked away, pretending to look at the fire damage to the cathedral.

“Ladybug?”

“Yes. He seemed very worried.”

Chat swallowed nervously, trying to push down the growing lump in his throat. His fingers tapped against his baton in rapid succession. A chill went down his body as images of the monster in the café flooded back into his mind.

“Then we should get going,” he said, attempting to ignore his rising heartbeat.

The two leaped up to the top of the north tower. Ladybug spun her yo-yo, ready to swing across the Seine. She scanned the buildings.

“Okay follow me, I know the…BUNNYX!”

“What? Where?!” Chat exclaimed.

“Down there!” Ladybug shouted, pointing to the right bank of the Seine.

From their elevated vantage point, the pair witnessed the rabbit-themed superhero slowly walking through an alleyway. One hand pressed against the wall for support, while the other clutched her side. She was dragging her parasol on the ground and was not moving fast.

“We’ll have to put Master Fu on hold. She looks hurt!”

“Wait my lady!” Chat began, “We should be car-”

Before Chat could finish his sentence, Ladybug was already halfway there. Shaking his head, he took off after her. They passed over the dense foot traffic near the river and effortlessly landed in the alley. As soon as they drew close, Bunnyx forced a smile.

“Minibug…kitty,” she greeted them weakly.

Her hold on the wall slipped and she fell, hitting the ground hard. Ladybug and Chat ran to her. As soon as they propped her up and got a better look at her, they both gasped. To say she looked like hell would have been an understatement. Her face was severely bruised, her left eye so bloodshot that she could barely see out of it. Her blue and white suit was torn in several places. The gashes that made those tears were deep and parallel to each other, as if they had been made by the claws of a wild, carnivorous animal. There were multiple teeth marks in her right ear, which was so damaged that it barely seemed to be attached to her head. Worst of all, several small punctures were placed across her body. A black, decaying aura surrounded these marks. Every time the destructive aura around them grew, Bunnyx opened her mouth to release a silent scream of pain.

“ _Mon Dieu!_ We need to get you to the hospital now!” Ladybug said as panic started to overtake her.

“Wouldn’t…do any good,” Bunnyx coughed. She motioned to the black bite marks. “This poison….it can’t be fixed by any medicine.”

Ladybug held her head in her hands. Her bottom lip trembled as she shakily replied, “L-L-Lucky Charm…Miraculous Ladybug could-”

“This is no akuma Minibug,” Bunnyx replied. As her head turned to face Ladybug, she looked at her apologetically. “I’m so sorry. This is all my fault.”

“What are you talking about? You just saved us, remember?”

“No minibug,” she said, feebly shaking her head, “I’ve accidentally signed your death sentence.”

Neither Chat nor Ladybug breathed for a moment. They stared at the future heroine in silence, their blood running cold with apprehension.

“What…do you mean?” Chat asked, afraid to hear the answer.

“In our battle, Timetagger and I really did a number on the time stream. We must have caused a tear in space time. One bad enough that Miraculous Ladybug couldn’t fix it. And someone…or _something_ must have slipped through that tear.”

Bunnyx took a few moments to catch her breath before continuing. “In my time, I was getting ready for a wedding of two friends of mine when Fluff just started freaking out. And I mean, _really_ freaking out. Something about an evil being manifesting from outside the confines of the time stream. I contacted your future selves for help, but when we met up to plan our next move…”

Her voice suddenly cut off as tears formed in her battered eyes. She closed them and whimpered. Ladybug took hold of Bunnyx’s shoulders and asked in a trembling whisper, “What…happened?”

Bunnyx clenched her fists and stifled back a sob. “You both just _faded_. Just faded from existence right in front of me.”

The two heroes stared at their wounded comrade, stunned and breathless. Ladybug bit her lip. She closed her eyes and tried to breathe normally again.

“F-Faded?” she asked, her voice noticeably quieter.

“Meaning we don’t exist in the future anymore,” Chat Noir said, his ears dropping in defeat, “we don’t survive long enough to see it. That’s it, isn’t it?”

Bunnyx’s breathing grew more strained as she gazed at the young heroes. Tears leaked from her eyes. “Forgive me. I had no idea that our battle would cause this. I had no idea this enemy even existed. I’ve failed you both.”

The rabbit hero’s head sank with exhaustion and shame. Ladybug held her head up with her hand on Bunnyx’s cheek. Her eyes searched the future hero’s downcast expression, desperately seeking a way out.

“Is there nothing…we can do?” she asked.

“I don’t know,” Bunnyx replied. “I followed this monster into the past, trying to delay him as long as I could. It’s possible that following him might have-”

Her sentence cut short as a tremor of pain from the poison erupted across her body. Her pupils rolled towards the back of her eyes as the black aura from the bites metastasized, spreading the violent decay across her body. The heavy breathing from her chest became increasingly labored. Yet as Bunnyx slowly recovered from the abrupt convulsion, the look in her eyes was surprisingly gentle and warm. She feebly raised her right hand and brushed it against Ladybug’s cheek.

“You’ve grown,” she said, as her gaze passed from Ladybug to Chat Noir and back again, “you’re a bit older.”

Ladybug choked on her words for a moment and then slowly nodded. Gradually the icy weight on her tongue thawed and she answered, “It’s been nearly a year and a half since we faced Timetagger with you.”

Bunnyx’s hand dropped back to her side. She leaned back, now completely dependent on the superhero pair to hold herself up. Despite her growing weakness, her face relaxed in an expression of relief.

“Then it wasn’t for nothing,” she said, her gaze focused on the night sky above, “I did delay him. It’s not much, but if you’ve matured at all since we last saw each other, then you might have a chance. I…I didn’t fail.”

As Chat maintained his hold on Bunnyx’s left shoulder, his ears twitched in sudden alarm. He looked down the alley in the direction of a manhole cover, which began to tremble slightly from a disturbance below. It was followed by a low rumbling sound and the unexpected, nauseating smell of rotten meat. The trio turned towards the noise, their bodies and minds instantly on high alert.

“We have company,” Chat stated, reaching for his staff.

Bunnyx grabbed her parasol, her mouth curling in rage. “He’s back.”

At that moment, six large snakes appeared from the manhole cover and approached. They were as large as anacondas if not more so, but instead of a yellowish-green color, the snake’s scales were as black as obsidian. Their mouths opened, revealing two dagger-like fangs that dripped a ghastly reddish liquid. As the heads slithered toward them, the smell of decomposing flesh grew more intense. Ladybug covered her nose and mouth to repress the urge to gag.

The multitude of snakes came within three meters of the heroes and then lunged without warning. All of them wrapped around Bunnyx’s ankles with three to each leg. They started to pull her toward the sewer.

“Bunnyx!” the Parisian heroes cried at the same time.

Ladybug and Chat Noir grabbed the future heroine’s wrists and heaved back. Despite the superior strength given by their miraculouses, the pair could do little to resist the pull. Their feet skidded on the pavement, trying desperately to keep the injured Bunnyx aware from the sewer entrance.

“No good,” Chat said through clenched teeth, “they’re too strong!”

“Keep trying!” Ladybug ordered.

“NO!” Bunnyx yelled, causing them both to stare at her in shock.

As she looked up at them, she smiled, appearing oddly tranquil as she drew closer to her subterranean tomb. “Let me go. You’re not ready for this fight yet. I made this mess. Go. I’ll give you as much time as I can.”

Ladybug shook her head, seeming almost offended at the suggestion. “No! We can’t leave you like this! You’ll di-”

“I’m already a goner minibug,” she reminded them. She tapped her parasol against the ground, and the pointed tip at the top of the umbrella transformed into a sharp, serrated blade. Her expression quickly became murderous. “I won’t win, but I will make sure he feels pain before I go down.”

The steeled look of resignation in Bunnyx’s face pierced through Ladybug like a knife to the heart. Her throat suddenly became dry. Her eyes began to water as the reality of the situation sunk in. This wasn’t just a fellow heroine; this was also her classmate. This was also her friend. A future version of her friend, but her friend nonetheless. One that she had known since before _collège_ and had supported (or at least tolerated) her many ludicrous schemes to capture Adrien’s heart. A friend whose boisterous, competitive, and foul-mouthed nature always brought a smile to Marinette’s face. And now she was being asked to leave that friend to die.

“Alix,” she said softly, her voice cracking as she choked back a sob.

“Go minibug,” she ordered, her voice soft and subdued. “I need to do this. It’s the only chance you have.”

Chat Noir turned to Ladybug, looking for guidance. His grip on Bunnyx was slipping and his feline sense of danger erupted in his mind as they closed within ten meters of the sewer entrance. A single tear streamed down Ladybug’s cheek as her face froze in indecision.

_A hero never leaves someone in danger,_ she told herself, _I know I’m out of my league here, but I can’t just walk away…can I?_

The snakes made the decision for her. Two of them uncoiled from Bunnyx’s left leg and eyed Ladybug’s left calf. Their mouths opened. For a split second, Chat stared at the movement in immediate horror. Before he had the chance to think, his reflexes made him drop Bunnyx’s hand and tackle his partner to the side. As they hit the pavement, something like two scalding hot nails pierced his right thigh. A rush of liquid filled the area around the bites and instantly burned inside like a firebrand touching his skin. His body quaked in agony as he grabbed his leg and howled in pain.

Ladybug was up and at his side in an instant, only to find two scarlet-colored bite marks on Chat’s thigh. His screams shook her to her very core. She trembled as her arms reached around him, helplessly watching him writhe as the poison coursed through him.

Bunnyx was immediately pulled toward the hole, but she had enough time to see Chat go down. Enough time to see Ladybug’s panic-stricken face. Something boiled within Alix’s subconscious, a tidal wave composed of both shock and rage. As she was dragged toward the mouth of the sewer, she aimed the parasol blade at the beast below.

“You’re going to pay for that,” she said lowly, her brows furrowed in white hot fury.

The snakes and Bunnyx disappeared together down the manhole entrance. Ladybug kept her hold on Chat, not daring to look in that direction. She closed her eyes and heard the rabbit heroine’s enraged yelling and a growling noise from inside the sewer. The sounds of battle reverberated below and then gradually faded. The two superheroes were left alone in the alley as night descended on Paris.

Chat’s screams gave way to sharp and strained breaths as the fiery venom spread and burned through his chest. Every part of him wanted to cry out, but his chest suddenly felt heavy and it was enough effort just to get oxygen into his lungs. His skin paled considerably, and Ladybug reached forward, touching the area around his mask. She gasped in horror. Even through her suit, she could feel the temperature in his skin rising exponentially. A vicious fever had grabbed hold of him. He looked at his lady, his agonized face pleading for help.

_No,_ Marinette’s mind said as the red marks around his thigh began to expand, _no no no no…._

“CHAT! Stay with me!” she commanded. She pulled him into an embrace. He shivered as he broke out into a cold sweat. “We’re going to get you help.”

_Don’t leave me_ , a voice inside her begged, growing increasingly desperate. _I can’t do this without you_.

“Bunnyx…” Chat croaked as he leaned on her shoulder, “She said there’s noth-”

“I don’t care what she said!” Ladybug barked, cutting him off.

_You’re not allowed to die!_ her conscious mind shouted. _The only way we stand a chance against this villain is together!_

She gingerly stood up, supporting Chat on her shoulder. His legs trembled as he struggled to stay upright.

“Can you stand?” Ladybug asked.

Chat shook his head. She wrapped an arm tightly around him. He clutched his hands against her opposite shoulder. Beads of sickly sweat began to run down his face. A fit of coughing overtook him, triggering a fierce burning sensation in his chest. Paradoxically his body continued to shake as if he had been trapped in a freezer again. He looked up at Ladybug, trying to focus on her and not the poison that was setting his insides ablaze. But the image of her in his vision blurred and spun around as he became increasingly dizzy.

“Ladybug,” he said, shutting his eyes. His grip on her shoulders tightened. “I’m…scared.”

_I know. I know you are. But scared doesn’t even begin to describe me right now_ , she thought as her mind reeled. Internally Marinette was pushing against the sickening possibility that seemed ready to crush her at any moment. She tried to mentally wall herself off, to hold off the twisted shadows that would force her to see a future she could not accept. But despite her valiant attempt, the shadows did come, and she could see this nightmarish future in perfect clarity: a dead partner, a panicked city, a relentless enemy that she would have to face without him, and a brutal end within his ghastly jaws

_No. I can’t…I won’t accept that_ , she thought as she swung her yo-yo in the direction of Master Fu’s residence.

“Hang on Chat!” she told him, desperation creeping into her voice. “You’ve never been one to give up before, so don’t you dare start now!”

_Paris still needs you_ , she thought to herself.

Her yo-yo caught on to Notre-Dame’s North Tower and pulled them toward the Seine. Chat blanched and whimpered as his beleaguered body was subjected to Ladybug’s chaotic and rapid swinging across the city. His feeble cries of pain made her eyes begin to water again. She bit her lip and tried not to hear it as she increased her pace.

_I still need you._


	3. Floating Down this Miraculous River with You

** 3 **

**Floating Down this Miraculous River with You**

_Meditate on what attaches you to this world._

Guru Pathik- _Avatar the Last Airbender_

Ladybug arrived on the roof of Master Fu’s building with Chat still holding onto her. As soon as they landed, he went down on his knees and clutched his stomach. He heaved and tried to vomit, but nothing came out. For a few moments his mouth remained open as he prepared for the nausea to reach its natural conclusion, but eventually the feeling passed. His body trembled as he remained in that position, staring at the bare cement below him. A few beads of cold sweat fell from his cheek. Everything inside him hurt. Everything inside him burned. He almost didn’t notice the familiar hand of his partner touching his back.

“How…how bad is it?” she asked hesitantly.

“I feel hot,” Chat answered as he turned and forced a smile, “and not in the sexy way.” 

Ladybug breathed a sigh of relief. _He’s still making bad jokes_ , she thought, _there’s still hope_.

She gingerly helped him back to his feet and together they inched their way to the roof access door. Chat let himself be guided down the steps, not trusting himself to walk normally. It was only one flight of stairs, but his mind was in such a fog he wasn’t sure if the walk took ten seconds or ten minutes. His vision was spotty and even faded to black for a moment or two. Before he knew it, he was staring at small wooden door. A wooden door that his partner opened without knocking.

“Master Fu!” she cried, carrying him inside a small room with a traditional Chinese aesthetic. “Chat Noir, he’s…the monster poisoned him!”

The Guardian of the Miraculous sat cross-legged on the mat in the center of the room with the turtle kwami Wayzz floating at his side. Sprawled out haphazardly on the mat in front of him was a collection of scrolls and various books that had clearly seen better days. When Ladybug burst through the door, Master Fu dropped the ancient parchment he was reading and immediately rose to his feet. His mouth dropped slightly as he looked at Chat and quickly assessed the situation. He quickly turned to Ladybug, his face full of concern.

“Ladybug,” he said slowly, “were…were you bitten as well?”

She shook her head. “No. These snakes were going to bite me and he,” she paused as she looked down at Chat and lost her voice for a moment, “he…pushed me out of the way.”

The panicked look on Master Fu’s face relaxed a little. “I see. We are very lucky it was Chat and not you.”

Chat Noir, who had been absentmindedly staring at the floor, lifted his head up upon hearing this. But even that amount of physical effort made his head spin. Another wave of paralyzing nausea gripped him, and he shut his eyes, praying it would pass soon. The Guardian’s words reverberated through his feverish mind. They confirmed that he had made the right call. Even in his dire state, he managed a small smile.

_I did my job,_ he thought, _I protected Ladybug. Even if I don’t make it through this, I wasn’t useless._

Ladybug, on the other hand, was livid.

“How can you say that?!” she demanded as she stared down Master Fu in indignation. “Chat is NOT expendable! If anything, I need him now more than-”

Master Fu raised his hand and cut her off. “You misunderstand. The owner of the Black Cat miraculous is unique in that he can survive any type of poison from Shouwang. I do not mean that Chat is expendable. He is merely better equipped to deal with this attack in ways that you could not.”

“W-what does that mean?” she asked.

Master Fu fetched a pillow and handed it to Ladybug. “Here, take him into the bathroom and let him lie down in the tub,” he said before heading off to his kitchen, “all will be explained in due time, but first we need to heal him.”

Fu disappeared into the kitchen, leaving Ladybug to slowly move Chat down the hallway to the right of his dragon-themed record player. She opened the door to a small bathroom with golden wallpaper depicting repeating images of a traditional Confucian temple. After placing the pillow on the end opposite the faucet, she gingerly lowered her partner down and into the tub. He wheezed painfully and stared up at the ceiling, his eyes spinning in confusion. His throat burned.

“Water,” he croaked at her, “Please.”

Ladybug looked around frantically, immediately relieved to see a discarded cup on the sink. She washed it out and filled it to the brim with cold tap water. Kneeling next to Chat, she eased the cup toward his lips. His body trembled as he drank, and the liquid provided a cooling reprieve to the pain in his throat. He closed his eyes briefly and glanced at Ladybug in gratitude as he drained the glass.

“Oh _chaton_ ,” she said as she touched his forehead again, “I know you’ve taken the bullet for me before but this…”

Ladybug lost her voice for a moment. She took a breath and whispered, “this is too much. Too much to see you like this.”

Chat raised his eyebrows to see two small streams of tears coming out of his partner’s eyes. His face lit up with sudden energy as he watched as Ladybug slowly break down and cry. She buried her head in his shoulder, wincing as she felt the fever burning from beneath his suit. She placed her hand on his chest and continued to sob.

“Master Fu, he can…he _will_ save you. He said so, right? Because otherwise…”

She didn’t finish her sentence. She bit her lip and grimaced before touching his cheek. In a hushed tone she said, “Don’t leave me. Please. I can’t lose you.”

For a few seconds Chat wondered if the fever had gotten into his brain. He blinked several times as he watched his lady stifle back a sob. Her words bounced around his head, gaining momentum as he had time to process them. He leaned his head against the shower wall and stared back at her. His breathing was labored, his body ached, and the burning sensation in his torso and extremities was getting worse. Yet he couldn’t help but feel a strange sense of warmth blossom in his chest. It was a pleasant, comforting feeling. For too long he had known little outside the cold confines of the Agreste mansion, where his father controlled him with a possessive, detached love. There was no affection there, not since his mother disappeared. To see his lady cry for him, to remind him that someone truly did love him, was enough to make his agony a little more bearable.

“My lady,” he said as his voice grew hoarse, “I promised not to leave your side. I won’t break my promise.”

Ladybug managed a smile and touched Chat’s hand, which was resting on the tub. “I’m holding you to that promise.”

At that moment Master Fu opened the bathroom door, carrying a test tube full of a pink liquid in his left hand and various other objects tucked under his right arm.

“I’m ready now. Chat will need to de-transform for the healing process to occur,” he explained. “Please wait in the hallway.”

Ladybug took one last look at her ailing kitty and sighed. Slowly and reluctantly, she rose to her feet and left the room. Fu closed the door behind her and knelt down at the foot of the tub. Chat opened his mouth to speak but was cut off by an intense burning in his thigh that quickly spread to his torso and neck. He clenched his teeth to prevent himself from crying out.

“We must do this quickly,” Fu said, his expression grave. “De-transform. Now.”

Chat nodded in agreement. “Plagg. Claws in.”

A greenish light enveloped him as Chat Noir evaporated into Adrien Agreste. He looked down and gasped to see that the cold sweat from the venom had soaked his chest. His heart skipped a beat as he glanced down at his arms, horrified at the unnatural paleness of his skin. Above him Plagg circled, looking down at his chosen. Adrien made eye contact with his kwami, who met his gaze with a dispassionate and possibly troubled stare. The tiny black cat quickly turned away and folded his arms against his chest. He muttered something under his breath that Adrien couldn’t hear.

Fu gently handed him the test tube. “Drink this. It will help alleviate the burning.”

Adrien obeyed, sucking down the thick pink liquid as fast as he reasonably could. It tasted bitter and sour like a grapefruit that wasn’t ripe yet. But any lingering distaste he experienced disappeared as the elixir quickly started to ease the inferno raging in his throat and chest. He breathed a sigh of relief.

“Was that the cure?” he asked.

“I’m afraid not” Master Fu replied. “That potion merely takes the edge off and makes the actual healing a little easier. Where did Shouwang bite you?”

“In the thigh,” he said, pointing to the area slightly above his hip.

“You will have to remove your pants then.”

Adrien acquiesced, removing his jeans and tossing them to the other side of the tub. Given his feverish state of mind and the urgency of the situation, modesty was the least of his concerns. Plus, he was a teenage model. It wasn’t the first time he had to strip down in front of people.

Once his pants were off, he rolled up his boxers to see the wound…and immediately regretted it. Two deep puncture wounds the color of dark crimson marked the area of the bite. Radiating out from the bite marks were scarlet lines that traced his veins and pulsed with venom like a sickly heartbeat. Even worse, the lines were already spreading down his calf muscle. Adrien swallowed and closed his eyes, trying to suppress his increasingly panicked thoughts.

“It’s red,” Master Fu observed as he stroked his beard, “Good. It seems Shouwang didn’t intend to kill you this time. Only make you suffer.”

_How the hell is that good news?!_ Adrien’s mind shouted in protest.

“The recovery period from the red venom is much shorter than the black,” Fu answered, as if he anticipated Adrien’s question.

Plagg floated closer to the wound, examining it without any visible emotion in his face. He sighed and turned to the Guardian. “Yeah I can fix this one no problem.”

“Then let’s not waste any time,” Master Fu said before handing Adrien a small rolled-up piece of hard leather. “Here. Bite down on this.”

Adrien raised an eyebrow. “Um…why?”

“I don’t want to alarm my neighbors.”

“That doesn’t answer my question.”

“I said I could heal you,” Plagg stated with a visible eye roll. “I didn’t say it wouldn’t hurt. Trust me, you’re going to want to bite down on that.”

Adrien’s eyes widened in alarm. “Wait hold on, what exactly are you about to-?”

He was cut off by another spasm of burning agony that ripped violently through his abdomen and up to his head. He whimpered as he opened his eyes and saw that his vision was spinning again. The pink elixir he drank was doing little to stop it.

_Screw it_ , he thought in resignation, _it can’t be as bad as this_.

He stuffed the leather in his mouth and motioned for Plagg to go ahead. His kwami took a deep breath and clasped his paws together. He shut his eyes and began chanting in a language Adrien didn’t recognize. Fu rubbed a green herbal paste over the wound and lit a sage smudge stick. He then flicked his wrist to all four corners of the room, spreading the burning sage’s pungent aroma everywhere. The kwami’s chanting intensified and Adrien winced as he felt the muscles in his thigh tingle strangely. Plagg opened his mouth wide and a stream of scarlet red energy began escaping from his chosen’s thigh.

At the same time Adrien’s face went taut from shock as something akin to a red-hot iron seared into the exposed flesh of his thigh. That shock lasted only a split second before he screamed against his leather gag as the pain overwhelmed him. His eyes watered and he clawed the shower wall, thrashing in the tub like a rabid animal. The hellish stream of venom continued to exit his thigh and Plagg continued to consume it, appearing totally immersed in the ritual. Adrien inhaled sharply through his nose before screaming again. Outside the bathroom, Ladybug covered her mouth as she heard her partner’s muffled cries of anguish. Unable to listen any longer, she covered her ears and silently prayed that Chat’s suffering would be over soon.

Fortunately, she soon got her wish. The screaming from the bathroom started to gradually die down. Inside, Plagg finished off the last of the venom before exhaling. That exhale was shortly followed by a loud belch. Adrien slumped in the tub, sweating, exhausted, and relieved that it was done. He laid his head against the shower wall, taking in slow and deep breaths. As he slowly came back to himself, he noted that the monstrous fever and the severe symptoms associated with it were gone. In its place was a growing wave of fatigue which dulled his elation of being liberated from the poison.

Master Fu placed a full glass of water by the foot of the tub. “Transform again when you are ready.”

Adrien nodded half-heartedly as Fu exited the room, closing the door behind him. He encountered Ladybug in the hallway, who was pacing back and forth. As soon as he appeared, she looked at the Guardian, eyes full of concern.

“He will be okay, but he will be quite weary after that ordeal,” he explained, “please sit on the mat. I’ve moved the scrolls and ancient texts aside. Chat Noir will join you in a moment. I will make tea.”

Ladybug took another glance at the closed bathroom door. She unconsciously took a step toward it.

“Chat Noir is not transformed yet,” Fu cautioned, “please give him a moment to recover for now. I promise that he is no longer in danger.”

“But his…screaming,” she said quietly.

“Unfortunately, that was unavoidable. The black cat miraculous can absorb Shouwang’s venom, but the power of destruction is not something that can heal cleanly and painlessly. I will go into more detail soon, but right now I have a pot of tea to attend to.”

The Guardian excused himself to the kitchen, leaving Ladybug in the hallway. She paused for a moment before walking to the mat and sitting down. Shortly after she did so, she heard the familiar noise of transformation coming from behind her. She turned her neck to see Chat slowly walking to the main room. Without a word he stepped onto the mat and laid down, groaning and muttering something under his breath.

“Chat,” she said as she laid a hand on his shoulder, “you’re okay.”

“‘Okay’ is a strong word my lady. Plagg definitely did his job but I _really_ don’t want to go through that again.”

Ladybug lowered her head. “That sounded so awful.”

“It was,” Chat answered, “but if what he’s saying is true, then I made the right call. If I can recover from this monster’s poison and you can’t, then I’m glad I pushed you out of the way.”

Ladybug’s face fell and she stared down at the mat. She wiped a tear off her mask and sighed softly. His words were no doubt meant to cheer her up, to reaffirm what she meant to him. But they didn’t. The sight of Chat convulsing and trembling in the alleyway was still fresh in her mind. So too was the fear that she might lose him. And yet here he was, affirming that he did the right thing without a trace of regret on his face. It was unsettling, but a part of her knew she shouldn’t be surprised. Time and time again he had taken hits for her, absorbing the brunt of an akuma attack to give her time to save the day. It had become accepted practice, just part of the routine. He couldn’t cleanse the akumas, so sometimes he had to be the punching bag, and Ladybug had just accepted that. Perhaps the Miraculous Ladybug power had subconsciously convinced her that it was a necessary part of their teamwork. If she could reverse the damage, she reasoned, then his sacrifices would only be temporary.

She could no longer tolerate that excuse. Not after tonight. This enemy was far too power, far too dangerous for Chat to be so reckless for her sake. His feelings toward her, feelings she could not return, could quite literally be the death of him. And if he could survive Shouwang’s poison, then it was likely he would strive to be her shield even more. Even if the venom didn’t kill him, the damage to Bunnyx’s body was more than enough evidence that their enemy could kill him in other ways. Chat had to be aware of this fact, but his prior statement showed no wavering in his determination to protect her.

_Does he really see himself as expendable?_ she asked herself.

“I meant what I said earlier,” she told him, still facing the floor, “about it being too much to see you in that much pain. So I beg you, don’t carelessly throw yourself in front of me just because you _might_ live through it. You are not expendable. Got it?”

Chat blinked several times, taken aback by her command. She faced him, her expression firm and resolute. The proverbial cat caught his tongue and he struggled to form words. He had assumed she would appreciate that he was willing to go through that hell for her, but she had suddenly turned the tables on him. He may have saved her from the snakes’ poison but in so doing caused her a different kind of pain. One that she did not want to go through again. A guilty weight pressed against his chest, and he tried to sit up to face her at eye level. He immediately felt dizzy and laid back down, choosing instead to tilt his head toward her.

“Ladybug,” he began, “I-”

He was quickly cut off as Master Fu entered the room and placed a tray containing a tea pot and three porcelain cups on the floor. The Guardian carefully poured the tea into each one and offered two of them to the heroes. Chat took a deep breath and slowly managed to sit up with much more caution than before.

“On to business then,” Fu said as he set the teapot down, “I’m sure you have many questions.”

“I could think of a few,” Ladybug admitted.

Fu picked up his cup and stared down at the reddish-orange liquid. “To be brief, Shouwang is the enemy of the original Ladybug and Chat Noir and the reason the Miraculouses were created in the first place.”

He took a sip before continuing. “Much of the story has been lost to time, despite the best efforts of the Order of the Guardians to uncover it. But we do know that thousands of years ago, in ancient China, a cruel trick was played on a goddess. A shape-shifting demon approached her in the form of her divine husband, and they made love.”

This bit of information made the two heroes share an uncomfortable look. Fu went on.

“Nine months late the monstrous child was born, and the ruse was discovered. Disgusted, the gods cast him down to Earth to perish. But the god-demon hybrid did not die. Somehow, he survived to become a legendary warrior, whose supernatural power earned him the favor of the lords of Southern China. Eventually he discovered his true origins and demanded that he be allowed back into heaven as an equal. The Jade Emperor flatly refused.”

Fu placed his teacup back on the tray and closed his eyes for a moment. “Enraged at the gods, his true demonic origins began to manifest in the form of a monstrous hunger. He began to eat the flesh of his fallen enemies in battle. When that was no longer enough, the southern warlords offered him the bodies of ordinary people to quench his cannibalistic craving. As the number of human sacrifices grew, so too did his power. Divine warriors were sent to eliminate him, but at that point even the gods couldn’t stop him. At the same time his barbaric crimes morphed him into a truly terrifying animal monstrosity, which earned him the name Shouwang.”

“The Beast King,” Chat translated, catching Ladybug by surprise.

“Correct,” Fu replied. “The situation only worsened when the Jade Emperor discovered that Shouwang had infiltrated heaven in a disguised form and stolen the gourds of heavenly wine, which made the demon immortal. His other options exhausted, the ruler of heaven commissioned a human mage to create objects of great power for worthy mortals which would be bound to the kwamis, the sprite creatures of heaven.”

“Our miraculouses,” Ladybug said as she touched her earrings.

Fu nodded and picked up his teacup again. “Together the first heroes and the gods defeated Shouwang. But unable to kill an immortal being, they were forced to seal him in a mountain for millennia.”

“Except he didn’t say there,” Chat concluded.

Fu nodded gravely and sipped on his tea. “No magic has been able to bury him permanently. Multiple Ladybugs and Chat Noirs throughout human history have faced him and sealed him away, only for him to escape again after several centuries and start the battle all over again. It has been a vicious cycle for miraculous holders, one that I thought was broken after the last time a past version of yourselves battled him.”

“Plagg mentioned something about how he thought they had gotten rid of him last time,” Chat said as he tapped his teacup. “What happened last time?”

Master Fu held up his hand as a gesture asking for patience. “I will get to that in a minute. First I must be honest with you and explain the true threat Shouwang poses to you both.”

Ladybug glanced over nervously at Chat, who met her look with an uneasy expression of his own. Reluctantly she turned back to Master Fu and said, “He wants to kill us.”

“More specifically, he wants to eat you.”

The room became deathly quiet. His throat suddenly dry, Chat drank his tea and tried to steady his breathing. Ladybug stared down blankly at her tea as her hands shook slightly. She took a deep breath.

_Keep it together Marinette_ , she told herself, _keep it together._

Taking a moment to calm her nerves, she asked, “Why? Why would this monster want to do… _that_ to us?”

“He wants what he has always wanted,” Fu replied, “to become a god and to be worshipped as such. But he also wants vengeance on the miraculous heroes, you two in particular, for thwarting that goal repeatedly. Many centuries ago, he found a way to accomplish both goals at the same time. With every hero he consumed, his power grew, elevating him closer to godhood. We do not know exactly how many he needs to reach his goal, but the Guardians have always theorized that he needs to consume the holders of all seven of the most powerful miraculouses to become a god. Fortunately, he has never managed to get all seven at once, and it appears every time he is sealed away or buried, he must start over again.”

“What about the Zodiac miraculouses?” Ladybug asked.

“This is just speculation, but it was commonly believed that eating two Zodiac heroes could count for one of the seven main miraculouses.”

“Bunnyx,” Ladybug said softly as she lowered her head.

“You mentioned her on the phone,” Fu stated as he scratched his beard in thought. “We should get in contact with her as soon as possible. She could be a vital ally.”

Ladybug bit her lip and winced as the Guardian looked at her expectantly. Chat placed his hand on her shoulder. She gave him a half-smile of gratitude and raised her left hand to touch his. Sighing, she calmly explained the sequence of events that made them late and had resulted in Chat’s violent poisoning at the hands of Shouwang.

Fu listened in silence until Ladybug finished. Wayzz, who had been lingering in the kitchen up till now, suddenly emerged and hovered near his master. The little green kwami lowered his head and whispered something to the Guardian that the other heroes didn’t hear. Fu hardly reacted to the gesture. His troubled gaze remained distant, detached from his surroundings. His hands trembled slightly as they rested on his knees.

“I see,” he said quietly, finally breaking the silence, “then Shouwang has already claimed his first victim.”

He stood up and immediately headed toward the kitchen. “No time to lose then. We must perform the ritual.”

“Ritual? What ritual?” Ladybug asked.

The clattering of pots and other miscellaneous items in the kitchen was the only response she received. The bug themed hero turned to Chat, who merely shrugged in confusion. Moments later Fu reemerged, carrying a black cauldron full of herbs and various bottles of spices. He walked to the back of the room and carefully removed the antique record player from the table, setting it down on the floor. Placing the cauldron in its place, Fu went to work concocting the recipe. He periodically glanced at his phone, studying the photo of ancient instructions intently.

“Master Fu?” Ladybug pressed, “what is this ritual going to do?”

“And please tell me it’s a lot less painful than the last one,” Chat added nervously.

The Guardian waved his hand in slight annoyance as he tried to concentrate. “Memory navigation spell. Your miraculouses contain fragments, traces of memory from the previous owners. If I do this correctly, you will be able to see the last battle a Chat Noir and Ladybug had with Shouwang. And…” he said before looking over his shoulder to face them, “and gain insight on how he may be defeated in the present.”

Ladybug blinked several times, appearing momentarily stunned. “That…that’s great news!” she exclaimed as she clenched her fists in excitement. “That’s just what we need!”

“Agreed. That sounds a lot better than screaming bloody murder in a bathtub,” Chat said before staring at his hand with a puzzled expression on his face. “Though I have to ask, can’t I just use my Cataclysm on him and be done with it? My power can destroy anything.”

“Yes and no,” Fu replied as he continued adding the ingredients.

“Come again?”

The Guardian sighed and glanced at Wayzz, who nodded in understanding. The kwami floated toward them and said, “Shouwang is a creature of destruction, much like your kwami. Pure destruction cannot annihilate what is also pure destruction. If you used Cataclysm on him, it would destroy him, but only temporarily. At best, you would have a week or two before he reformed. The fact that he is an immortal being now does not help either.”

Chat furrowed his eyebrows and clenched his teeth. “So he has an infinite respawn ability? You’ve got to be kidding me!”

“But,” Wayzz added, “that also works in your favor. His venom can hurt you, but as long as Plagg heals you, it won’t be able to kill you.”

“I’m assuming that doesn’t work for me though,” Ladybug guessed.

Wayzz solemnly shook his head. “Only the holder of the black cat miraculous can endure all of Shouwang’s poison. If you got infected with the red venom, Plagg could cure you, but you would be terribly sick for a while. But if you are exposed to the black venom, you would not be able to survive, even with Plagg’s help.”

Ladybug swallowed uncomfortably and lowered her head. “Good to know.”

“Oh, I almost forgot,” Fu said, still focused on the task at hand, “you will have to de-transform for the spell to work.”

Ladybug’s eyes grew as wide as saucers and Chat felt a twinge of sudden excitement pulse through his mind. His partner’s hands reached toward her mask defensively.

“Master!” she protested, “you of all people know we can’t reveal our secret identities to each other. You’ve said so yourself.”

Chat cleared his throat and placed his right hand over his chest. “And while I would love to know my lady’s identity, now is neither the time nor the place.”

“How…surprisingly mature of you Chat,” Ladybug said as she folded her arms and eyed her partner suspiciously.

“But of course,” Chat purred as he craned his neck and shot Ladybug a devious grin. “If we are going to reveal our identities, it has to be done right. You know, a moonlit dinner on top of the Eiffel Tower, a few candles scattered about, some music to set the mood, a bottle of wine-”

“A bottle of wine?” Ladybug repeated incredulously.

“What? I can snag one,” he said as he winked at her. “No one knows how old we are. And besides, this is France after all.”

His partner groaned and rolled her eyes. One end of her lip curled upwards, betraying a slight smile. “I’ll give you one thing Chat; you have a _very_ active imagination.”

“And I would advise you to use yours Ladybug,” Fu chimed in as he pounded some herbs together and added them to the cauldron, “I never said you had to reveal your identities to each other, just that you needed to be de-transformed.”

Ladybug looked around, scratching her head. “So how are we supposed to…oh that’s it!”

“What’s it?” Chat asked.

She pointed to a wooden room divider that was folded up in one corner of the room near the front door. Chat quickly gathered her intention as she drew an imaginary line across the mat. He scratched the back of his head as he felt his heart rate increase again.

“Uh sure,” he voiced in agreement as shrugged his shoulders, “second time in one day. Why not?”

The pair rose to their feet, Chat far more slowly than Ladybug, and gently carried the room divider to the mat. They carefully extended it until the mat was evenly split with both heroes now having a space for privacy. The top and bottom part of the furniture piece was made of solid Chinese rosewood, but the middle section contained a tightly woven layer of white fabric decorated with repeating images of cherry blossoms. They took a moment to look at each other through the partially translucent material.

“Can you see me?” Ladybug asked.

“Just your shadow, nothing more,” Chat assured her, “which is a shame because you won’t be able to see me in my full handsome glory.”

Ladybug snorted in laughter. “I think I’ll live _minou_.”

The two sat back down in their respective spots. Ladybug took a deep breath.

“Spots off,” she said.

“Claws in,” Chat said a second later.

As their transformations gave way, Adrien felt overwhelmed by a sudden wave of exhaustion. Before he knew what was happening, his face collided with the mat.

“Chat?” Marinette asked as she pressed her hand against the white fabric of the divider. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah…fine,” he mumbled into the mat. “Apparently I feel the side effects of Plagg’s delightful cure more as my normal self.”

His kwami grumbled in annoyance. “You’re welcome you ungrateful piece of-”

“Plagg! Hush!” a high-pitched voice interrupted from above Adrien’s head.

Adrien titled his head up to see a floating red creature with black spots glaring daggers at his kwami. For a brief moment he thought his weary mind was playing tricks on him, until realization kicked in and he suddenly felt wide awake. He pushed himself off the mat and stared at Plagg’s new companion.

“You,” he stated in surprise, “you’re her kwami.”

The little sprite smiled awkwardly and extended her tiny arm toward him in a gesture of greeting. “I don’t think we’ve formally met. My name is Tikki and yes, I am Ladybug’s kwami.”

Unable to shake her hand (arm?) Adrien lightly touched the kwami’s outstretched limb. “Nice to meet you.”

“Likewise. Ladybug wanted me to check to make sure you were okay. And don’t worry. Just like Plagg hasn’t told you about her, I haven’t told her your identity.”

“Um…thank you,” he said, rubbing his arm as he looked away.

_But again, she’s the one that wants to keep our identities hidden from each other_ , he thought, _and of course Plagg hasn’t told me anything, the little asshole._

Plagg moved in between Adrien and Tikki to get the latter’s attention. “ _Sucrette_ ,” he said with a solemn expression, “may I have a word with you?”

Tikki momentarily blinked in confusion but ultimately nodded in understanding. They flew towards one of the back rooms. As they passed by Master Fu, Wayzz attempted to follow, but Plagg wheeled around and gave him a spiteful look that stopped the green kwami in his tracks.

“In private,” Plagg clarified with a hiss.

Wayzz floated several paces backwards, recoiling from Plagg’s aggressive rejection of his presence. Tikki glanced at the black cat in disapproval but he ignored it and disappeared into Fu’s bedroom. She shook her head for a moment before joining him.

With their kwamis gone, Adrien and Marinette sat in silence for several minutes while the Guardian continued to work. He added a healthy amount of ginseng to the concoction and appeared pleased as the cauldron started to bubble.

“We should be able to proceed with the spell in two minutes,” he declared with confidence.

Without warning a red mushroom cloud emerged from the top of the pot and erupted in a thunderous explosion, knocking a small hole in the ceiling. Adrien clutched his chest with his right hand and wheezed out a strangled breath of shock while Marinette dug her fingers into the mat with her face frozen in panic from the sudden jolt. The room divider wobbled precariously, and she had to catch it before it fell on her. Master Fu stared dumbstruck as he rubbed some soot from off his bald scalp and glanced up at the hole in his ceiling.

“Ten minutes,” he corrected himself with a cough, before muttering something about too much ginseng.

_Sacre bleu_ , Marinette thought as she pushed the divider back up and tried to control her breathing, _haven’t I gone through enough moments of terror for one day?!_

“Master,” Adrien gasped, his face still pale from fright, “are you sure this spell is not going to hurt?”

Fu cleared his throat and rubbed his neck. “O-Of course not. This was just a minor hiccup,” he assured them as some small fragments of dry wall fell on top of him, “it is not supposed to explode.”

“‘Not supposed to’ doesn’t exactly fill us with confidence right now,” Marinette replied as she turned to face him.

After more assurances that his second attempt would _more than likely_ not explode, the pair fell quiet again. A few minutes later Tikki and Plagg returned to their respective chosens. Tikki affectionately nuzzled against Marinette’s face. Though the red kwami smiled, there was a nervous twitch in her antennas that did not escape her confidant’s attention. Plagg merely tapped Adrien with his tail and grunted.

“Cheese,” he grumbled.

“What?”

“Cheese,” he repeated in a fouler tone than before.

Adrien rolled his eyes and gave him a piece of Camembert from inside his jacket. Plagg greedily devoured the morsel and then continued to glare at his chosen.

“Cheese,” he demanded again.

“I just gave you cheese!” Adrien protested.

“More cheese,” Plagg specified, his voice lowering in impatience.

Adrien muttered a few choice words under his breath and fetched another piece for his kwami, who promptly consumed it with the same speed as before. On the other side of the divider Marinette put a hand to her mouth and snickered.

“Plagg, you’re going to bankrupt my partner if you keep demanding that much expensive cheese from him.”

The black cat chuckled as he rubbed his tiny gut in satisfaction. “Bankrupt him…that’s a good one.”

Marinette raised an eyebrow. “Why is that so funny?”

Plagg thought over her question for a moment and then gave Adrien a mischievous look. A look that quickly made the blonde teenager’s eyes widen in alarm.

“Oh…nothing,” the cat purred in fake innocence.

“Plagg,” Adrien warned.

“Just that my boy here is rich,” Plagg announced without hesitation.

“PLAGG!” he practically shouted in outrage.

The kwami hummed to himself shamelessly while Adrien lowered his eyebrows, attempting to resist the urge to strangle him. Fu turned around and likewise scowled at the pint-sized harbinger of destruction in annoyance. Marinette on the other hand, appeared genuinely surprised.

“Chat, I always pictured you as more of an alley cat, not an aristocat.”

Adrien took a deep breath and folded his hands together in thought. “Okay, first of all, fantastic pun. I’ve taught you well. Second, there are lots of things you don’t know about me. I’m full of surprises. Surprises that I would be more than happy to share with you personally someday,” he went on as he aimed another spiteful gaze towards Plagg, “and not have them revealed _prematurely_ from my blabbermouth of a kwami.”

Marinette scratched underneath Tikki’s chin. “Well, we can’t always be so lucky with the kwamis we get. But you really are wealthy?”

Adrien coughed and rubbed the back of his neck as he pondered his words. “We’re…comfortable.”

Plagg immediately burst out laughing, much to the young model’s chagrin. “Comfortable? More like mansion level rich. His room is practically the size of a gymnasium!”

Adrien pulled his kwami downward by the tail. Through clenched teeth he delivered a simple command: “Shut. Up.”

Tikki’s head phased through the divider. In echo of Adrien’s prior statement, she motioned for the cat to zip his loose lips. Plagg remained unfazed as he slowly floated towards the red bug. After making sure Adrien couldn’t see his lips moving, he mouthed the words, “ _What? I’m doing them a favor.”_

_"We talked about this!”_ she shouted back at him silently, “ _We cannot interfere! If it’s going to happen, it has to happen naturally_.”

At the back of the room a smaller and much tamer mushroom cloud appeared above Fu’s bubbling cauldron. The Guardian beamed in excitement and inhaled the brew’s aroma. Satisfied with the smell, he took three small droppers from the table and filled them with the liquid. He then put on a gauze mask over his mouth and nose.

“I’m ready to begin,” he announced

He lit four pairs of incense sticks and placed each one of them in one of the four cardinal directions of the room. The air soon began to fill with a pleasant and deeply soothing aroma. A small cloud of pinkish-purple smoke diffused around them. As Marinette and Adrien breathed in the smoke, an unnatural calmness overtook them. A peaceful, almost dazed look manifested on their faces. They swayed slightly and found themselves lying contentedly on the mat.

Marinette giggled as her eyelids began to feel heavy, “He he… _minou_ …I feel…a little sleepy.”

“So do I,” Adrien responded as his body almost went catatonically still, “Very tired. Too much poison, too much screaming. Gonna sleep now.”

He quickly achieved that objective as he fell limp on the mat and descended into a deep slumber. Master Fu approached him and released a few drops on his ring. Passing to the other side, he put a little of the same liquid onto Marinette’s earrings. The owner of the Ladybug Miraculous still teetered on the edge of consciousness and sleep. Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion as she attempted to remember something.

“What…what are we going to see again?” she asked in a dispassionate yawn.

“The last battle between a Ladybug and a Chat Noir and the demon Shouwang,” he answered as he stood up from placing the drops on her earrings. “Relax and let the river of memories carry you there.”

Marinette rolled over to her side as her eyes closed with sudden fatigue. Tikki patted her head as her breathing grew deeper. Her consciousness faded to black as sleep soon claimed her.

Ψ

For a while Marinette neither felt nor heard anything. Her eyes could see nothing but inky blackness in all directions. It made no difference whether she closed her eyes or opened them; either way she was blind to the abyss that engulfed her. Then she realized she was moving, being carried by some sort of current. She stretched her hand out and encountered a non-solid surface that was cool and wet on her fingertips.

_Water_ , she reasoned, _I’m floating_.

As she drifted along through the void toward an unknown destination, a slight shimmer of light manifested around her. She turned to her right and left to find its source, only to realize that she _was_ the source. She watched in astonishment as her arms lit up with a reddish, pulsating glow. Looking down, Marinette could see the light spread until it filled the physical outline of her body. Black spots emerged on her translucent skin and began to move about her body, following the flow of the crimson light within her. She attempted to touch one of them, only to discover that her fingers fazed through her skin. Perplexed, she attempted to touch her face and felt a pang of unease as her hand passed through her own cheek.

_My body’s…not solid_ , she concluded in speechless amazement, _is this supposed to happen? Am I a ghost? Oh God, am I dead?!_

She sat up, unsure how she could do so and still be floating. She attempted to call out to Tikki, only to find that no sound would come out of her throat. Her thoughts raced in alarm as she tried to speak, only to find that she had been rendered totally mute. Now terribly anxious, Marinette desperately looked in all directions for her kwami. But it was a fruitless search. There was nothing and no one in sight. Nothing but seemingly infinite blackness and the faint sound of water below her. A second, more troubling thought entered her thoughts.

_Am I…all alone_? She asked herself as her mind started to panic.

_Not alone_ …a voice answered from far away.

Marinette turned and peered in the direction of the sound. Far in the distance a faint green light materialized and slightly illuminated the thick blackness of the void. At first the light appeared impossibly far away. Then, something akin to an invisible tether grabbed hold and pulled her closer. She moved forward along the current while steadily closing the distance between her and the only other light in the abyss. Gradually the glow coalesced into a human shape. That’s when she saw him. He was a majestic swirl of green and golden yellow. He wore no mask, but the illumination of his body obscured any attempt to discern facial features. But he still possessed the wild, unkept hair and devilish grin she was all too familiar with.

_Chat?_ her thoughts asked.

_The one and only_ , he replied. _Looks like I can’t speak either, but luckily for you my thoughts are loud and clear_.

She looked down at what he was wearing, which it turned out wasn’t much. Even with his somewhat blinding aura, she could tell he was shirtless with some sort of cloth towel tied around his waist. Marinette cleared her throat and looked away.

_You’re uh…not wearing much…clothing_ , her mind reluctantly informed him.

_I’m aware_ , he replied before glancing to the side away from her, _and I’m not sure how to tell you this but…_

He pointed and Marinette looked down to get a closer look at her outfit. In a similar vein to Chat, she had a cloth wrapped around her chest and a skirt-like garment that ended midway down her thighs. The important parts were covered, but her apparel left very little to the imagination. She yelped in surprise and covered her chest and groin area with her arms. She groaned in embarrassment and knew with certainty that she would have turned as red as a tomato if she wasn’t already that color.

_Dah! I’m half-naked!! What is with this skimpy getup?!_

Adrien gazed upward, attempting to respect her modesty, and shrugged. _I mean, it’s really no different from a swimsuit_ , he argued. _Not that big of a deal_.

_I feel exposed_ , she whined. _How is me being in this state a necessary part of the ritual?_

_I’m in the same boat as you_ , he reminded her.

_Then why aren’t you embarrassed?! You’re barely wearing more than a loincloth!_ she observed.

Adrien paused for a moment and considered his next response carefully. He quickly realized he needed a good excuse for his lack of discomfort. ‘Because I’m a teen model and I’ve posed semi-nude before’ didn’t seem like a good explanation secret identity-wise. His eyes darted back and forth as he tried to stall for time.

_Well…you see…I_

_Oh, I see_ , Marinette cut him off as she folded her arms across her chest (which was slightly problematic given her intangible body), _you wanted to show off to try to impress me didn’t you?_

Adrien waved his hands in front of him. _No, no! That’s not it at all!_

Marinette leaned forward and pointed an accusatory index finger at him. _You listen here Chat. Just because you’re shirtless and glowing, don’t expect me to swoon over your…your…_

Her sentence trailed off as she looked down and her mouth went slightly agape. Her eyes widened as they focused on his well-toned chest and arms. His athletic physique drew the attention of her gaze like a moth to a flame. She swallowed nervously as she noticed how well his glowing blonde hair complemented his muscular shoulders and torso. A jittery sensation spread through her gut and down to her knees as her focus shifted downward toward his abdominal muscles. Heat rose to her face as she attempted not to gawk at his abs which seemed to rival classical Greek statues in their level of perfection. Marinette’s face stiffened and she forced herself to look away. She had certainly expected Chat to be in good shape from their routine battle with akumas. She even thought it was possible for him to be generally attractive outside of his cat suit. But she certainly did not expect him to look so…

_Beautiful_ …she admitted in embarrassment.

Said embarrassment turned to outright horror when she noticed Chat staring at her dumbfounded and quickly realized that thought was not kept to herself. Her hands latched on to her head as she desperately tried to think of a way out of that unfortunate blunder. Meanwhile, Adrien shook his head, trying to make sure he had heard her correctly.

_Did…you just call me…?_

_It was the lighting!_ Marinette’s thoughts suddenly blared as she turned to face him again. _The light, your light…playing tricks with me…nothing more. And whatever crazy kind of incense Master Fu used. Must have messed with my mind._

Marinette braced herself for Chat’s victorious boasting over her unfortunate slip. She groaned internally as she imagined the deluge of awful cat puns that would assail her. But none came. She cautiously glanced in his direction, expecting to be greeted with a _merde_ -eating grin. Instead what she found was her golden glowing partner opening his mouth several times but failing to form words.

Truth be told, Adrien did want to dive into a flurry of triumphant flirting and puns, but he was distracted by the sudden pounding in his chest. A tingling sensation passed through his ethereal body that he could neither explain nor suppress. What he did know with certainty was that one word from his lady had rendered him speechless. The fact that she was quite literally radiating a beautiful shade of red while self-consciously averting his gaze didn’t help either. The brave and bold Ladybug he had always known now appeared adorably bashful, and his brain was now overheating from the shock. That in combination with her somewhat revealing outfit made it hard for him to breathe, much less speak.

_Incense_ …his brain finally uttered as he tried not to stare… _yes that’s it. Must have messed with my head too._

For a moment the two heroes merely stared at each other awkwardly, unsure of what to say next. Nothing they had done before, no enemy they had faced before, had prepared them for this scenario. An akuma tearing apart Paris? They could handle that in their sleep. Finding themselves half-naked, glowing, lost in some otherworldly abyss, and able to read each other’s thoughts? There was no protocol for that.

Adrien was the first to break the silence. _Your hair is down…_

_What?_

_No um…pigtails…this time_ , he responded, scratching the top of his head as he tried not to marvel at her beautiful shoulder-length dark hair.

Marinette attempted to touch the back of her head, only for her hand to pass through hair. She grunted in frustration and sighed. _I’ll have to take your word for it_.

Adrien, having recovered partial control over his senses, managed a slight chuckle. _It looks nice_ , he assured her. _And while I can’t really tell who you are_ , he stated before performing a dramatic bow, _it is a privilege to finally meet you unmasked my lady_.

Marinette put a hand over her mouth to suppress a snicker. _Likewise_.

As Chat prepared to finish his bow, a small object in the water brushed up against his forehead. He opened his eyes to see a small shining red orb with black dots bobbing up and down near his feet. Curiosity piqued, he picked up the object which fit perfectly into his palm.

_What’s this?_

_It matches my earrings_ , Marinette observed. She looked around and drew in a surprised breath before pointing behind them. _Look! There’s more of them._

Adrien turned to see dozens of small orbs following the current at a slightly faster pace than them. Half of them resembled the red orb he was holding, while the other half were black and displayed a golden yellow paw print. He recognized it instantly.

_The symbol on my ring_ , he concluded. _It’s my miraculous._

_Both of our miraculouses_ , Marinette added as she eyed the red orb in Chat’s hand.

_What do you think it means?_

_Master Fu mentioned something about memory fragments of previous owners_ , she recalled as she cautiously reached toward the Ladybug-colored orb _…Maybe if I_ …

As soon as Marinette’s finger touched the object, both she and the sphere lit up like a Christmas tree. Her eyes glowed intensely, causing Adrien to shield his vision from the blinding light. In an instant she was mentally transported somewhere else. She found herself in a small medieval French village, walking around and doing chores in a body that was not her own. She walked in this girl’s footsteps, conscious that she was still Marinette but unable to change or affect her new body’s actions in any way. Her vision shifted to a small church, where voices called her to uncover a small box hidden below an altar. A box which opened to reveal a small red and black bug with a new calling for her life. The scene moved to a private audience with the Dauphin, in which the girl promised in a voice not belonging to Marinette that the young man was destined to be king and gave him a black ring with a cat’s paw as a sign of God’s favor. The setting once again changed, this time to a furious battle in which French troops desperately tried to storm a castle controlled by the English. This Ladybug, clad in red and black armor, summoned a sword from Lucky Charm and rallied her compatriots to fight harder. The mayhem of bloodshed and the clash of metal against metal dissolved into the image of a solemn courtroom, where a bishop hammered her with questions regarding her visions and the nature of her private conversation with King Charles VII, formerly the Dauphin. The medieval Ladybug deftly combatted and evaded the questions, while Tikki whispered advice to her while hidden behind her shoulder and inside her shirt. Finally, she was tied up to a wooden stake in front of a large crowd while an executioner in a black hood lit a torch to seal her fate. As the death sentence for heresy was read out, this Ladybug witnessed a cloaked figure in the crowd, holding her earrings and Tikki. The red kwami stifled her tears and looked away as the executioner ignited the wood around her doomed chosen.

_Do not be afraid Tikki_ , Marinette spoke in this foreign voice while the flames rose up around her. She glared at the group of murderous clergymen in defiance. _Do your worst. I dine with the saints and angels in paradise tonight!_

The flames consumed her, searing Marinette’s skin for a brief moment. Before she could cry out, the vision ended, and she was back in the black void with Chat. Her partner cried out to her, shaking her to get her attention. She could hear his panicked thoughts in her head but they sounded like a distant, unintelligible vibration as if she was hearing him speak while underwater. It took several seconds for her to make sense of his words.

_…La…Ladybug what happened? Are you okay?_ he asked urgently. _What was all that about saints and angels?_

Marinette stared at Chat in stunned silence for a moment, the gears in her mind slowly processing what had transpired. As she slowly made sense of her out of body experience, a single word escaped her lips. _Joan_

Chat removed his hand from her shoulder and raised an eyebrow in confusion. _Joan? What do you mean? Who’s Joan?_

_Joan of Arc_ , she clarified as she continued to look of into space in wonder.

_My lady, this is no time for a history lesson. Tell me what you_ …He paused as his face lit up with sudden understanding. _Oh…Ohhhh…you mean_

_I was Joan of Arc. Or more accurately, Joan of Arc was Ladybug._

She motioned to the orb. A certain sadness mixed with awe appeared on her face as she continued. _This was her life. I saw everything. Her beginning, her moments of glory, her execution. It’s all right there._

She then pointed to the rest of the spheres around them. _These orbs must represent the lives of every Ladybug and Chat Noir before us._

Her mouth opened in excitement as she suddenly remembered something from earlier. _Of course! Before I passed out, Master Fu said something about the “river of memories”. This is that river. The memories of these miraculous holders._

Upon hearing this revelation, Adrien peered at the closest Chat orb with insatiable curiosity. Before Ladybug could caution him otherwise, he placed his palm on top of it.

_I want to see it_ , he told her as his eyes radiated a brilliant shade of gold.

In an instant he got his wish. He was in a much taller body on a wooden deck as heavy waves pounded the ship he was on. Despite Adrien’s lack of familiarity with the ocean, the body he occupied had confident sea legs. He ordered his crew in a rough Scottish accent for port cannons to fire at their foe. They complied with a fiery roar. It was then that their much larger opponent, a fifty-gun frigate waving a British flag, fired a thunderous reply that caused the ship to quake and part of the mast to splinter. Fires broke out on deck and his crew raced to put them out in a cacophony of desperate shouting.

_We’re taking on water Captain Jones!_ one of them declared.

_Full speed ahead lads!_ Adrien’s new form commanded them, _We’ve got to lock with her if we have any chance of surviving today!_

The smaller vessel defiantly pursued a direct course toward their foe amidst the deadly accuracy of its cannons. Adrien looked up at his ship’s colors to make sure the flag was still waving. He recognized it as the United States’ flag, though with far fewer stars than he remembered. It occurred to him that he was fighting on behalf of a much younger nation, one that was fighting for its life against the most formidable naval power of the time.

Unable to match the cannon fire of the heavy frigate, this Scottish Chat attempted to get close enough to hook onto and board the vessel. Unfortunately, with his ship bristling from the enemy’s onslaught and now sinking, his bow inadvertently rammed into the opponent’s stern, causing everyone on deck to fall to their feet. As Adrien slowly stood back up at the helm, the British captain of the other ship jeeringly asked if the great _pirate_ Commodore John Paul Jones was ready to surrender.

Before he replied, Adrien’s sea captain eyes looked around to survey the damage. His mast was barely hanging on, the fires on deck were not yet contained, his cannons were about spent, and even the American flag had been lost in the confusion. Things were certainly looking grim. Any sane man would have waved the white flag of surrender by now.

At that moment he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned to see his first mate standing at his side. Unlike most of his crew who were bearded and burly, this Frenchman was lean and had a boyish face devoid of any facial hair. His dark black hair was long and wild, reaching down to his shoulders and obscuring his ears. Wrapped around his neck was a red bandana with black dots which his shipmates routinely jeered him for wearing. Though not physically impressive by any means, he carried his pistol and cutlass with confidence and had earned his place as the _Bonhomme Richard_ ’s first mate. This trusted confidant nodded in encouragement and Adrien felt his courage renewed, knowing that he had his support.

Of course, unbeknownst to everyone save the captain, this confidant was not actually a _he_.

With his secret lady of war at his side ready to transform, this swashbuckling Chat glowered at the enemy captain in defiance. He was no sane man. No sane man would cross the sea and challenge the world’s most powerful navy with a small group of converted merchant ships. It didn’t matter that his ship was still sinking and on fire. Now was not the time to start using common sense. He balled his hand into a fist and eyed his silver ring as his battle blood rose to a boil.

_I have not yet begun to fight!_ he announced as his activated his transformation in a shimmer of light.

In a flash, Adrien returned to reality with Ladybug leaning in close to him and trying to get his attention. His thoughts and hearing remained in a fog for several seconds before returning to normal.

… _you okay?_ she asked. _What did you see?_

_I…was an American sea captain_ , Adrien responded as he blinked several times in a post-vision haze, _or a pirate. Maybe a little of both. Does the name John Paul Jones ring a bell to you?_

Marinette stared at him blankly and shook her head. _No, not at all. Outside of France, my knowledge of history is limited._

_I don’t know anything about him either_ , Adrien admitted before his face lit up with excitement, _but he had a Ladybug on his ship. A woman who was disguised as a man. They were ready to jump into battle together against impossible odds._

_Sounds familiar_ , Marinette replied before glancing down at the water and frowning, _Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem Joan had the same support from her Chat, the king of France at the time. Otherwise…_

Adrien’s smile melted away and his eyebrows lowered in instant disapproval. _I am not that Chat. I would never abandon you like that…_

_I know,_ Marinette assured him as she made eye contact with him again, _it just breaks my heart that a past Ladybug was left without a Chat Noir to help her. And seeing you near death not too long ago…I’m afraid of that happening to me._

Adrien placed a hand on her shoulder and leaned in closer to her. _I told you I’m not going anywhere. You’re not facing Shouwang without me._

_Thank you,_ she mentally told him as she took a deep breath. She placed a hand over the one resting on her shoulder. For a brief moment she appeared at ease before glancing at her shoulder quizzically. _Hey, how come you can touch me, and I can touch you, but I can’t touch myself?_

Adrien’s face froze in shock for a moment before he uncomfortably cleared his throat. Marinette looked at him confused for a second until she pondered her words a second time. She made a slight squeaking noise and unsuccessfully attempted to give herself a face palm that ended up briefly phasing into her head. _Not what I meant_ , she groaned.

_Yes of course it’s just…_

_Poor choice of words_ , she replied, finishing his sentence.

_Exactly_ , Adrien replied with a nod of his head. He then shrugged his shoulders. _Not that I would judge of course. It’s perfectly natural._

_Definitely. Natural and healthy._

_We all need a release now and again_ , Adrien’s brain rambled on without thinking.

_Agreed,_ she concurred before her face contorted in horror. Adrien followed close behind. They stared at each other for a moment, both too embarrassed and stunned to speak. Marinette looked down at the water and considered sinking below it, never to come up again.

_Um…_ Adrien stammered as his eyes darted back and forth _…can we just pretend the last ten seconds didn’t happen?_

_YES!_ We _gotta find the orbs that show the last battle with Shouwang!_ Marinette proclaimed as she looked around and laughed nervously. _There are so many here. It will take us forever to go through them. Isn’t that funny? Haha…_

Adrien’s face twitched as he witnessed his lady red-faced (both figuratively and literally) for the second time today. Words failed him as his brain tried to process this intimate knowledge from his partner. He might have remained in that catatonic stupor had he not caught sight of a Ladybug and Chat orb that were brighter than the rest and pulsating with a white glow.

_What about those?_

Marinette turned to see where he was pointing and quickly noted how they stood out among the rest. Without hesitating she picked up the Chat orb and offered it to him.

_With any luck_ , she thought, _he’ll forget all about this when he wakes up._

_You…know I can still read your thoughts, right?_ Adrien reminded her.

_OH SHUT UP AND TAKE THE ORB!_ She mentally shouted as she shoved it into his hands. Once again, his eyes shimmered a brilliant gold. Ladybug grabbed hold of hers and the two of them descended together into a dark swirling vortex.


	4. Past Lessons and Future Preparations

** 4 **

**Past Lessons and Future Preparations**

_History doesn't repeat itself, but it does rhyme._

-Mark Twain

Several kilometers away within the confines of the Agreste mansion, Gabriel Agreste and Natalie Sancouer sat in the sitting room with only the light of the moon illuminating the space. They sat across from each other, Natalie hunched over and staring at the floor while Gabriel sat up straight with a glass of cognac in his hand. It was his third of the evening, and more than likely not his last. Nooroo floated near his master’s arm rest, appearing timid and withdrawn. The only creature in the room that moved was the Peacock kwami Duusu, who was perched on Natalie’s shoulder. She bobbed her head up and down cheerfully and whistled a tune to herself, blissfully ignorant of the somber atmosphere of the room. M. Agreste took another sip of his drink and closed his eyes for a moment.

“This is an…unexpected development,” he finally said, breaking the silence.

“What are we to do?” Natalie asked as she clasped her hands together and twiddled her thumbs. “We have a new enemy, one far more ruthless than Ladybug and Chat Noir.”

“We must adapt,” Gabriel answered, his expression as cold and unyielding as stone, “that is the only solution. My goal has not changed. But there is now a new contender we have to deal with.”

“Even with what Nooroo and Duusu told us, we still have questions about what this Shouwang is capable of,” Natalie reminded him as she became noticeably pale. “Moreover, we are targets. We are miraculous holders, and therefore vulnerable.”

“Yes, we are,” he agreed as he downed the glass. For a brief moment a devious smile crossed his lips. “But so are Ladybug, Chat Noir, and the rest of the heroes. This threat to us may be a blessing in disguise.”

“What do you propose we do?”

Gabriel rose to his feet and slowly made his way to a small bookshelf on the wall. They were mostly books on ancient history and philosophy. He ran his index finger over several titles until he stopped at a copy of Sun Tzu’s _The Art of War_. He opened it and flipped through, using the light from the window to read the pages.

“A work colleague gave this text to me recently,” he explained as he read, “‘Know your enemy, know yourself, and you can fight a hundred battles without disaster.’”

He sat back down and closed the book, letting it rest on the arm rest near Nooroo. “I’ve lost constantly to Ladybug and Chat Noir, and I’ve relied on the law of averages to eventually bring me success. After all, I only need to win once. But the stakes are too high now. I must win…quickly.”

Natalie briefly turned to Duusu, who was stuffing her beak inside a bag of pistachios and noisily consuming them. She maintained her professional demeanor amidst the loud crunching noise and faced M. Agreste again. “How?”

“As this book says, I must understand Ladybug, and anticipate what she plans to do,” he responded as he clutched the miraculous at his lapel. “She’s consistently proven that she has a highly strategic and creative mind, but she is still young. Young and more than likely frightened. I would wager that she is afraid for her own safety, but more importantly, the safety of her allies.”

“Carapace, Rena Rogue, Viperion, Pegasus, and Queen Bee,” Natalie said, listing the heroes, “we know they are only given their miraculouses on a temporary basis.”

“But Ladybug can’t afford to do that anymore,” Gabriel surmised as the wheels of his mind began to turn, “not if she doesn’t want to leave her friends helpless against Shouwang for him to hunt them down at his leisure. And there is an opportunity there.”

Natalie placed a fist under her chin and nodded. “I see. More miraculouses will be out in the open, and unlike Ladybug and Chat Noir, they will not be used to protecting their identities full time. They could make mistakes.”

M. Agreste went to refill his cognac glass, slowly pouring the drink as his other hand drummed his fingers on the bar table in thought. “Not to mention Chloé Bourgeois.”

“Do you think Ladybug would take that kind of obvious risk, giving the Bee Miraculous to her full time?” she asked.

Gabriel twirled the glass in his hands and slowly walked back to his chair. He remained standing as he stared at the wall. “Ladybug is clever and cautious, but she is not heartless. And they cannot be there to protect her all the time. If Shouwang will go after anyone previously exposed to a miraculous, then her conscience will force her to hand over the Bee Miraculous again. That is a weakness we can exploit.”

“So, we have more opportunities to seize miraculouses for ourselves,” Natalie concluded as she silenced Duusu’s noisy chewing with an icy stare, “but what are you going to do about akumas? If Shouwang can feed off of them, we could be unwillingly helping him grow stronger.”

“I don’t know yet,” Gabriel admitted as he sat back down. He folded one leg over the other. “I need to know if this demon will make a regular appearance for every akuma attack. Until then we must remain observant and see what our new enemy does. And I must be ready to test my theory about Ladybug’s allies.”

Natalie nodded. “In that case, might I propose that the next time you send out an akuma, you make sure Chloé Bourgeois is close by.”

Gabriel’s face brightened in eager delight as he contemplated the possibilities. “Yes, of course. Chloé has always been rash. If she is given the Bee Miraculous, she won’t hesitate to transform into Queen Bee, regardless of Ladybug’s instructions.”

“And I can watch her while you send out the akuma, to see if Ladybug has already given the miraculous to her,” Natalie added.

M. Agreste clasped his hands and tapped his thumbs together, his expression eager and devious. “I like it. Chloé is clearly the weakest link for Ladybug. It won’t be hard taking the miraculous from her.”

The room became quiet for a moment as Natalie studied the pattern of the rug below her. She raised her head and grimaced. “I should note, sir, that you would be leaving Chloé helpless against that monster. Are you…prepared to do that?”

Gabriel paused and tapped his fingers on the arm rests. He could see Nooroo out of the corner of his eye. There was a silent plea in the kwami’s eyes. Hawk Moth’s alter ego met Natalie’s gaze, his visage unchanged.

“I will give her an opportunity to work with me, like we have last time,” he explained as he took a drink, “if she refuses, then…that’s her choice.”

He placed the glass on the table between them and rose to his feet again, holding his hands together behind his back. “In fact, I’m willing to be magnanimous toward Ladybug and Chat Noir as well. I will offer them a choice: Surrender your miraculouses and I will fulfill my wish, rewriting reality so that Shouwang is never able to return. It may not be what they want, but at least they will live. Considering the fear they must be feeling right now, they just might accept.”

“And…if they do not accept your terms?” Natalie asked, her expression once again cold and unreadable.

The fingers on his right hand slowly curled into a fist. Something sinister sparked in his eyes as his mouth twisted into a snarl. “Then I will go after them with everything I have. I will force them out into the open with my akumas and keep Shouwang’s attention on them instead of us. Dead or alive, I will have their miraculouses. And it will not be my fault if they become…dinner.”

Ψ

The first thing Marinette heard was the roar of a furious wind that reverberated at a near deafening volume in her eardrums. She opened her eyes to see a black circular mass of clouds churning violently around her and Chat, as if they were in the eye of a hurricane. Her body then became aware that she was falling in a rapid nosedive toward a yet unknown destination below them. Powerless to slow her descent, she closed her eyes and attempted to clear her mind. She could her Chat’s increasingly panicked thoughts as he looked down towards the hazy bottom of the swirling chasm.

_I really hope there is a soft landing waiting for us. Otherwise…_

_Do me a favor and don’t finish that sentence,_ she quipped as her eyebrows furrowed in agitation.

As they fell further into the raging whirlwind, Chat took hold of her hand and forced a smile. Marinette gave him a slight nod of gratitude and tightened her grip on his hand. Together they shut their eyes and braced themselves for the impending impact.

That impact did not come. Instead, a sudden updraft of air caught them and slowed their fall, gently carrying them down. The rotation of the funnel cloud surrounding them weakened and gradually started to disappear. For a moment the pair were holding hands in total darkness. Then light steadily manifested around them, and the two heard several low rumbling noises, like a series of distant explosions. The rumbles were soon joined by indistinct shouting and the clash of metal. The explosive noises now resounded as clear as thunder.

Adrien listened closely and cocked his head in the direction of the sound. _It sounds like…_

_A battle_ , Marinette concluded, finishing his sentence.

As their descent slowed and the two hovered a meter or so off the ground, the light coalesced into the image of two figures standing in front of two large metal doors. Their black and red outfits were immediately recognizable to the heroes, but there were noticeable differences. Instead of a leather cat suit, this Chat Noir sported a _changshan_ tunic and pants decorated with several repeating silver images of a cat’s paw. He was a muscular young man, appearing to be in his early twenties. His facial features and skin tone indicated his Chinese ethnicity. Unlike his current successor, this Black Cat hero betrayed no hint of goofy behavior in his stone-faced expression. He gripped his staff tightly and stared at the doors with his eyes radiating an intense, unbreakable focus.

The red and black polka-dotted Ladybug standing before him likewise had a different interpretation of her heroine outfit. The form-fitting body suit was replaced by an elegant bodice with a swan neckline coupled with a skirt that ended well above her ankles, giving her much more freedom of movement. The lady behind the mask had pale European skin and chestnut hair that was pulled up in a pompadour bun, a style typical of the Edwardian era. Several strands of curly hair draped down close to her shoulders. With one hand on her hip and the other twirling a yo-yo she eyed her partner, her face eager and determined.

An unprompted name quickly entered Marinette’s thoughts. _Elizabeth_.

A split second later, a second name appeared in Adrien’s mind. _Shen._

“Alright love,” the Ladybug said in a refined British accent, “Fu and the others have the cult occupied. This is it. Any final thoughts before we go in to face the beast?”

His countenance remained unchanged as he slightly expanded his baton. “We must end him.”

The vintage Ladybug tilted her head to the side in slight amusement. “A gentleman of few words to the last I see. Very well then.”

Her light-hearted expression immediately switched gears to one of aggression as she forcibly kicked open the doors. The two stormed in with Marinette and Adrien floating close behind them. They entered the broad open space of an abandoned warehouse with a single throne placed in the middle of the floor. Occupying that throne was a lean young man wearing a Guardian monk’s red robes. His hair was much longer and wilder than before, but his sickly face and sinister, unhinged stare were all too familiar to the Parisian heroes.

Marinette’s heart instantly went into panic-mode and her grip on her partner’s hand tightened. _Chat…it’s him._

Adrien looked on in alarm, unable to react for a few seconds. He finally nodded. _Shouwang_ , he confirmed.

Shouwang appeared significantly bored as his enemies entered his chamber. He slouched in his seat and used an object to pick his teeth. Upon closer inspection, Marinette recognized said object as the Fox Miraculous. Their historical counterparts seemed to notice that detail as well, which made them momentarily stop in their tracks. The Black Cat hero’s stoic look quickly devolved into anger as he gritted his teeth in disgust.

“Monster,” he growled with his polearm at the ready, “you dare taunt us by flaunting Mei’s miraculous in front of us?!”

“You brute,” Elizabeth hissed. “You will suffer for what you did to her.”

“And on top of that, you have the gall to wear a monk’s robes as your own?” Shen added.

“Hei Mao,” Shouwang muttered at the black cat as he stared absentmindedly at the Fox Miraculous, “are you capable of any other emotion aside from rage?”

“With you there is no other emotion,” he replied.

“Stop stalling you demon,” the British Ladybug ordered as she took a step forward. “Where are those people you captured?”

Shouwang said nothing and merely pointed above him. Marinette and Adrien looked up…and immediately regretted it. Hanging from the ceiling in heavy black chains were at least two dozen corpses, all stripped bare and with their throats cut and dried blood coating their mangled bodies. They were both male and female, Chinese and European, but every one of them had apparently been subjected to the same level of brutality. Marinette covered her mouth and Adrien’s ethereal form shook in horror.

_Comme c’est barbarie…_ Marinette’s mind whispered.

_Look away! Look away!_ He told her as he temporarily let go of her hand and wrapped a protective hand around her shoulder.

Hei Mao and Ladybug likewise looked on in disgust, but quickly recovered. The two said nothing but quietly separated and circled their enemy, attempting to flank him from both the left and right. Shouwang, for his part, never dropped his confident and slightly bored persona.

“I was going to eat them, but your friend Mei and that Guardian monk ruined my appetite,” he explained. A long grey tongue then licked his lips and his eyes widened in anticipation. “Of course, now I believe I’m starting to hunger again.”

Hei Mao uttered a curse in Cantonese while Ladybug spun her yo-yo as a shield in front of her, ready for anything.

“You will not be feasting on anyone again!” she declared. “It’s over. The other heroes are dealing with your twisted followers as we speak. His Majesty’s navy is in the harbor, blocking your exit. You are not leaving Hong Kong alive.”

Shouwang flicked the Fox Miraculous onto the floor and flexed his left hand. His nails began growing and transforming into claws. He snarled, showing off his teeth which were becoming steadily less human and more canine in appearance. The color of his eyes went from brown to a sickly yellow.

“I will simply go to the mainland if I can’t stay here,” he countered. “China is ripe for me to inflict havoc. Revolution is brewing, and there will soon be a deluge of blood. Can you feel it? The time of the Qing Dynasty is ending.”

He rose to his feet, glaring at his opponents with murderous intent. “As is yours.”

A pitch-black mist enveloped Shouwang’s body, and his form began to change. He instantly grew taller, easily up to two and a half meters in height. Dozens of large, writhing appendages emerged from his back as his arms and legs expanded in size and thickness. His face morphed as well, with his mouth growing wider and his mouth and nose jutting forward into a much larger jaw. When the mist cleared, what stood before them was no longer human. From the waist up the beast took the shape of a tiger, though instead of orange fur with black stripes, the monster possessed solidly black fur with stripes the color of human blood. The chest and abdominal muscles covered by that fur were massive and his bulging arms appeared to rival the width of tree trunks. His elongated white teeth glistened like sabers in the faint moonlight coming through the warehouse windows. Massive reptilian legs covered in green scales took a few steps forward towards the heroes, sending a minor tremor through the ground. Behind his back a small army of black snakes hissed and appeared poised to strike, their fangs dripping in venom. In the middle of the pack a pair of pale white snakes stood out among the rest, remaining completely, unnaturally still. An overpowering, sickening odor wafted through the barren space, making the British Ladybug and Hei Mao wince and gag in disgust. His yellow, predatory eyes homed in on his enemies with carnivorous intent. An aura of bloodlust permeated through his irises, one strong enough to make anyone under his gaze feel the certain sentence of death.

Adrien and Marinette could only watch in wide-eyed terror as the giant flesh-eating monster got on all fours and roared at the past version of themselves. Their transparent bodies trembled from the terrible noise and the glow emanating from them dimmed in the awful presence of the Beast King. They gripped each other’s hand again, holding on for dear life as every fiber of their being told them to flee.

Marinette clenched her teeth and shut her eyes, suppressing the urge to whimper. _That…that is our new enemy? That’s his true form?_

Adrien stared blankly at Shouwang, unable to look away. His inner voice squeaked as he timidly asked, _Is it possible for our ghost avatars to pee themselves? Because I think I just did…_

Fear. Pure, unbridled fear took hold of the Parisian heroes. They already knew that Shouwang was a terrifying ancient demon, the bane of all Miraculous holders. But nothing that Master Fu had explained had prepared them for the frightful sight in front of them. Now seeing the true form of their enemy with their own eyes, Marinette and Adrien began to lose their nerve as the full scope of this new threat came crashing down on them. Their thoughts became clouded with panic as a primal part of their minds commanded them to _run, just run_. As their terror grew, their minds flooded with the fearful thoughts the other was going through. Aware that they were both equally terrified, the pair turned away from the monster and faced each other, attempting to preserve some level of measure of courage with the other’s support.

Despite Chat’s presence, Marinette’s resolve was fading fast. Under Shouwang’s chilling gaze, her will to fight seemed to evaporate into nothing, only to replaced by the timid spirit of a child afraid of the monster under her bed. A monster which was now undeniably real. She shook as the nightmarish mental image of the demon entered her thoughts. Against her will she imagined the snakes pulling her into his waiting mouth as she vainly tried to claw away and escape. She could see the drooling white teeth come closer in her mind’s eye while she remained petrified, unable to do anything to prevent the inevitable.

_NO!_ Chat suddenly shouted at her, knocking her out of that hellish scenario. His glowing face, only a moment ago just as panic stricken as she was, now appeared deadly serious as he declared, _I won’t let that happen! I won’t let him eat you! I swear it!_

She felt momentarily stunned by Chat’s declaration and stared at her partner for a moment. The hand holding hers trembled, but the steeled expression on his face remained unmoved. She could sense his fear. She could feel that it had not gone anywhere. Yet she could also sense no wavering in the statement he had just given. He had promised to defend her, and he meant it. Even in the face of this monster, he meant every word. Marinette felt a certain level of heat rise to her face.

While the current Ladybug and Chat Noir appeared to falter in Shouwang’s presence, their historical counterparts showed little hesitation. Elizabeth swung her yo-yo in the air and vanished into the rafters above. Hei Mao took a few determined steps forward with his staff at the ready and took a deep breath. Without warning a terrible noise, one resembling the cry of a wild beast, tore from his mouth. The sonic attack momentarily knocked Shouwang off balance.

The present-day heroic duo stared slack-jawed for a few seconds, unable to comprehend what had just happened. Neither one expected such a powerful intimidation attack from the Black Cat Miraculous. That was no normal cat purr. That was a roar. The roar of a ferocious big cat.

Adrien pointed at Shen and gazed at his partner in disbelief. _D-Did you just see that? That power…_ he mused as he redirected his index finger toward himself… _I’m capable of doing that?!_

Before their enemy could respond, the British Ladybug descended from the ceiling in a free fall. She kept her focus centered on the demon’s back and wrapped her yo-yo around half of the snake heads. As Shouwang recovered and opened his tiger jaw to swallow her, she spring boarded off of his snout and landed behind him. She sprinted behind a metal support beam, wrapping around the pole and then pulling with all her might. The yo-yo string went taught, pulling the snakes and the rest of the ancient demon backwards. As he approached the ground, Hei Mao leapt into the air and attempted to land a solid blow on his head. But the Beast King reacted quickly and swatted at his attacker with his massive paw. Shen rapidly adjusted in midair to block the enemy’s outstretched claws. He managed to avoid any penetrative damage but was still violently tossed against the warehouse wall.

With the Black Cat hero temporarily out of the way, Shouwang turned to face Elizabeth. The snakes that were free of her yo-yo string pounced, attempting to bite. Marinette covered her eyes as they closed in.

_Oh no! Without her yo-yo she’s helple-_

_Wait! No she isn’t!_ Adrien interrupted, pulling her hands down from her face. _Look!_

The British Ladybug reached to her left side where a pink flash of light manifested. The light coalesced into a circular object which she then spun in a circle, forming a protective shield which successfully parried the snakes, forcing them back. Elizabeth then retracted her first yo-yo and spun both that one and the secondary one at her sides.

_A second yo-yo_ , Marinette stated, before repeating herself in sudden excitement. _She has a second yo-yo! And she didn’t even need Lucky Charm to do it!_

The Hong-Kong heroes then regrouped, circling Shouwang on opposite sides and never once dropping their guard on him. The beast watched both heroes intermittently and growled, unable to look at one hero without taking his gaze off another. For several seconds all three combatants kept their distance, refusing to make the first move. Elizabeth stole a split-second glance at her partner and winked. Their enemy noted her slight lapse in attention and pounced. Nearly two tons of pure monster leaped into the air and attempted to slaughter her in one blow. The Ladybug facing him merely smirked and ascended back up to the rafters with one of her yo-yos. She used the other to wrap the creature’s paws together and then wrapped the cord around the crossbeams, firmly ensnaring the beast. Shouwang growled and struggled in a chaotic circle, attempting to free his arms. But the yo-yo string held firm. Meanwhile Hei Mao drove his staff into the ground and twisted it. The weapon suddenly grew and became curved, forming a bladed Chinese polearm known as the _guandao_. While the monster was distracted by his predicament, Shen drove the spear into his right leg, making the Beast King howl in pain. Before the snakes on Shouwang’s back could retaliate, Hei Mao flipped to the other side and skewered his left leg for good measure.

Adrien marveled at the sight as the beast flailed in rage with his maimed legs at his attacker. _Absolutely pawesome! I’m going to get a bladed…spear…thing?_ he remarked with uncertainty before letting it go with a shrug. _I have no idea what that’s called but it looks cool._

“You’re finished Shouwang!” Elizabeth called out from above. “My yo-yo is unbreakable and Hei Mao will continue bleeding you until you give in. We’re going to wrap you chains and drop you in the deepest trench in the Pacific we can find!”

Shouwang bared his teeth and glowered at the British hero with unrestrained malice before turning his attention to his restraints. Instead of trying to pull his paws apart and break the string, he heaved downward with all of his might. His arm muscles swelled and strained against the ceiling. The girders began to shake and bend in a sickening groan. Ladybug’s expression of confidence quickly soured as she felt the rafters sink and give way beneath her.

“Oh bugger,” she said under her breath.

Ladybug jumped off the rafters right as they buckled and snapped. Hei Mao looked up in alarm and immediately somersaulted backwards as a large section of the roof came down and landed on the floor in a loud crash. Shouwang snarled as he untangled the yo-yo string from the downed girder and then freed his paws, hurling the yo-yo behind him. With one of her weapons out of reach, Elizabeth stood on the second-floor railing while Shen remained at ground level and in front of her. The Beast King crouched down on all fours, pacing slowly as he glared at his black cat opponent in hunger and rage. He pounced with claws ready to strike, but Shen’s reflexes were just as fast. He continuously pivoted and dodged, staying just out of reach with his _guandao_ extended forwarded for protection.

With Shouwang’s attention focused on Hei Mao, Elizabeth looked down at her remaining yo-yo. She clutched it tightly in her hand and closed her eyes for a brief moment. “Tikki,” she said quietly, “I’m counting on you.”

As she called out her Lucky Charm power, the snakes on the monster’s back turned in her direction. Shouwang attempted to wheel around and attack Ladybug, but Hei Mao quickly took advantage of his lapse in attention and drove his blade into his right foot. A high-pitched animal scream filled the air, prompting Marinette and Adrien to cover their ears. As black gore filled the floor around the demon’s feet, Shouwang faced the black cat hero with bloodlust in his eyes. He formed his tiger paw into a fist and punched downwards with Shen only barely escaping the blow.

Meanwhile a red and black polka-dotted matchbox appeared in Elizabeth’s hands. She immediately surveyed the warehouse surroundings. On the ground level near Hei Mao she spotted several oil drums near the back exit. Her eyes widened and she sprinted across the second-floor railing, running towards the containers as she monitored the battle below. Her partner was viciously thrown into the pile of oil drums and struggled to get back to his feet.

Ladybug swung up to the rafters above him and called out “Hei Mao!”

He looked up to see Elizabeth wink at him while she shook the Lucky Charm matchbox for him to see. Glancing behind him, his eyes widened in understanding. As soon as he looked forward, his face paled to see Shouwang’s predatory jaws ready to swallow him whole. Instinct took over and Hei Mao elongated his staff in front of him. The beast’s jaws clamped down only for him to recoil as the blade of the _guandao_ penetrated the roof of his mouth. The black cat hero then somersaulted backwards, landing in the middle of the cluster of oil drums with his right paw at the ready.

“Cataclysm!” he called out.

With his destructive power activated, Hei Mao went to work on the oil drums, disintegrating all that were in his reach. In an instant, pools of oil spilled out in every general direction, coating the ground around him and the monster. The slick black liquid washed over their feet, mixing with the dark blood of the still bleeding Shouwang. The Beast King, his eyes brimming over with hate and hunger, barely even registered the oil spill below him. A group of snakes attacked the black cat from his left side, causing Hei Mao to instinctively pivot in that direction. Only out of the corner of his right eye did he realize it was a feint as Shouwang’s left paw closed in. The monster wasted no time and pinned Shen to the inky black floor.

As the weight of the demon’s paw pressed against Hei Mao’s chest, Shouwang leaned in close and let out a low growl. His acrid breath made Shen’s eyes water as the monster muttered a single word: “Die…”

Without warning two feet slammed into the beast’s face, knocking him off of Shen. Elizabeth picked up Hei Mao and supported him on her shoulder. Several strands of brunette hair hung over her face in front of eyes that radiated with fury. She pulled a match from the Lucky Charm matchbox and lit it. She tossed her yo-yo up towards the rafters and spat into the oil spill around them.

“You first,” she hissed.

With that, she pulled Shen out of the growing puddle of oil and tossed the match behind her. In an instant the area exploded into flame. Another primal scream, much louder than before, pierced the air and nearly deafened Adrien and Marinette. As the horrid noise lessened somewhat and the pain in their ears subsided, the pair cautiously opened their eyes. They watched in a combination of horror and awe as the figure of Shouwang struggled and writhed in the flames. Gradually his body went limp as the fire totally engulfed him. For a moment, the only sound in the warehouse was the roar of the flames.

Adrien drew in a deep, nervous breath and glanced at Marinette. _Is…it over?_

Marinette turned her attention to the Hong Kong heroes, who were closely monitoring the blaze from the second-floor railing. The British Ladybug, having recovered her second yo-yo, spun them both at half-speed at her sides. Hei Mao kept a firm grip on his _guandao_ , and barely blinked as he watched the lifeless figure in the fire. Neither one seemed to have dropped their defensive stance.

Marinette watched the fire with trepidation and grimly shook her head. _No._

Inside the oil conflagration, something snarled. The bodies of the two past heroes immediately tensed. Elizabeth rotated her wrists in an outward angle and sharpened blades appeared on the edges of the twirling yo-yos. Shen jumped up to the rafters and crawled along close to the ceiling while still remaining close to her partner.

“Be ready,” Elizabeth instructed as the five spots on her earrings flashed at once in a low beep. “We have five minutes before we can do that again.”

“That’s an eternity…” Shen protested.

_They’re old enough to not need to de-transform_ , Marinette surmised.

_Good_ , Adrien stated as he pointed towards the fire, _because it doesn’t look like they’re going to get a break_.

A sickening crack split the air. Two abnormally long and grotesquely skinny black arms reached out of the flames. Claws larger than butcher’s knives landed on the cement floor and dragged its charred body forward. The fire around him gradually died down, revealing a form even more horrifying than the one before. His legs were gone, replaced by a centipede-like lower half that crawled along the ground. At the upper part of this black insect body, a giant vertical mouth opened, displaying row upon row of gnashing teeth. Above the mouth two long serpentine necks emerged. From their ends sprouted two heads that resembled the skulls of pigs with two curved horns on top each of them. Black flames ignited in the empty sockets of each skull. A voice, one deeper and more demonic than the one before, came out of the skeleton mouths in unison.

“You will all die IN AGONY!” he declared before letting out a twisted hog scream.

What followed was a blur of fighting that Marinette and Adrien could barely follow. Elizabeth and Shen kept constant pressure on the monster, closing in and quickly retreating while trying to score as many hits on him as possible. Shouwang bellowed a steady stream of green fire from both of his mouths at the heroes who constantly moved just out of reach of the attack. More than once, Ladybug and Hei Mao had to come to each other’s aid. Elizabeth once found herself pinned by the spindly arms, forcing Shen to free her with a _guandao_ strike to the monsters’ wrist. She quickly returned the favor and yanked him away from being swallowed hole by the centipede mouth.

At this point the repeated fire blasts had set the entire warehouse on fire. The mutilated bodies hanging from the ceiling caught flame and began falling as the roof started to give way more. Several of the victims fell straight toward Marinette and Adrien, who held on to each other and braced for impact. The corpses fell harmlessly through their transparent bodies, though the psychological impact was hardly benign. Marinette took several desperate calming breaths as she held on to Chat’s shoulders, attempting not to think about how _utterly sick_ it was for a dead body to pass right through her. Adrien tried to keep his attention on the fight, though the shakiness in his mental voice confirmed that he was hardly unaffected by the experience.

_Fire…of course. Of course he can breathe fire_ , Adrien muttered. _Is there anything else this monster can do?!_

The minutes passed and the battle raged on. With a large part of the roof and second floor on fire, Hei Mao and Ladybug’s room to maneuver slowly closed in around them. The smoke in the air grew thick and the Hong Kong heroes began to cough. But Shouwang showed no sign of slowing down. Two rivers of green fire were launched at them, passing harmlessly through Marinette and Adrien. Unable to retreat outward from the fire, Elizabeth and Shen retreated inward closer to the monster. As the jets of flame followed them, they found themselves pivoting dangerously close to the Beast King’s ghastly mouth. Two vicious strikes from the bladed spinning yo-yos cut deep into the insect body, but the monster merely screeched in rage. Hei Mao extended his _guandao_ , planning to force the mouth open and prevent it from swallowing them.

Shouwang had other plans. Instead of outright swallowing them, the two white snakes from his previous tiger form emerged from the centipede’s mouth. They lashed out at both of them with fangs wide open. Hei Mao’s catlike reflexes allowed him to pivot out of the way and chop off the snake’s head. But as he turned to his partner, he noticed to his horror that Elizabeth’s yo-yos had missed in targeting her white snake, who was now closing in for a lethal bite to Ladybug’s neck. In a decision that lasted a fraction of a second, he extended the butt end of his _guandao_ into his partner’s abdomen, pushing her out of the way at the last possible moment.

His heroic act came at a cost. With his staff extended and exposed, one of Shouwang’s arm slammed down on the weapon, knocking it out of his hands. The remaining white snake whirled around and struck at him. Hei Mao, disarmed and unable to escape in time, felt the fangs tear into his right shoulder, filling it with an icy, fatal venom. He gasped as the black venom entered his veins and stole the air out of his lungs. He struggled for breath, desperately reaching for his _guandao_ and pointing the bladed edge at the monster. The Beast King slithered closer to his prostrate opponent with the carnivorous teeth of his insect mouth shining brightly in the fire light. For a brief moment, the color drained from Hei Mao’s face and genuine fear manifested in his eyes.

One of Elizabeth’s yo-yos, whose blades had been retracted, wrapped around Shen and pulled him towards her in the last corner of the building that had not yet caught fire. She twirled a protective shield in front of them as she clenched her teeth with rage and a growing sense of panic. Shouwang cackled as he opened his skeleton mouths to roast the heroes alive.

“And so it ends,” he boasted.

“NOT YET!” came an unexpected voice from behind.

Before Shouwang could react, a round shield cut through the flames and nailed one of the monster’s horned heads. While the demon hissed and looked around in confusion, a short but muscular man with jet black hair appeared in front of Ladybug. He was dressed in green plated armor and dark, loose-fitting pants. Behind his green mask were brown eyes that stared at the monster with pure hatred. As he caught his shield in midair, Marinette caught a better view of his face and goatee. Her mouth opened as recognition struck her all at once.

_It’s…Master Fu! He’s here!_ her mind stated in amazement.

_No way_ , Adrien responded. _He looks so much younger. He must be in his prime._

As if to prove Adrien’s point, Shouwang’s next fire blasts hammered in vain against the energy-projected turtle shell that Fu called up from his miraculous. The shield protecting the three heroes was at least twice as large as the ones they had seen Carapace create. The future guardian glanced behind him at Elizabeth, who was at Shen’s side.

“I know this is not according to plan,” he explained apologetically, “but seeing the burning warehouse made me think things weren’t going well.”

“Not…really,” Shen admitted as he struggled to sit up.

Hei Mao reached for his _guandao_ and slowly wrapped his fingers around it. His right arm started to tremble as another agonizing spasm from the poison passed through him. Elizabeth lowered her eyebrows and stripped the weapon from his grasp.

“Don’t even think about it you halfwit!” she shouted. “You need to let Plagg heal you. You’re in no condition to fight!”

Shen grabbed hold of his staff. His expression, while pained, remained firm and unyielding. “If I let him heal me now, I won’t be able to fight at all. We have to finish this.”

Elizabeth gritted her teeth and glared at him. Tears started to well up in her eyes and leak onto her mask. She pulled his weapon closer to her chest, resisting his pull.

“If you think,” she said as her voice started breaking, “that I’m going to let you throw away your life, then you’ve lost your senses!”

“What other choice do we have?!” he retorted. “I won’t let you face him without me!”

Fu held out his hands and strained as Shouwang continued to rain fire down on them. The monster then put his centipede mouth over the shield and tried to break it. When that didn’t work, he returned to his tiger form and began clawing the barrier. The turtle hero grimaced as cracks started to form in the energy shell.

“Can you two have this lover’s quarrel some other time?” he asked.

Marinette raised an eyebrow at the last statement. _Did Fu just say ‘lover’s quarrel’?_

Adrien cocked his head to the side, his interest suddenly piqued. _I believe he did._

More cracks started to form in Fu’s energy sphere. Hei Mao’s hardened expression began to wither under Elizabeth’s angry and heartbroken stare. He looked down, avoiding her gaze, and glanced at his ring. There were two cat paws remaining. His body was shaking, and his vision was getting blurry. Every now and then a freezing sensation tore the breath out of his lungs. Nevertheless, his grip on his weapon did not waver.

“Please my love,” he said in a softer tone. “Two minutes. That’s all we need.”

“This shield won’t hold two minutes!” Fu protested in gritted teeth.

For a moment Elizabeth remained frozen, her visage unchanged. Then without a word, she let go of his weapon. She then looked up at the monster, her fists trembling with rage. Facing in Fu’s direction, she sat down and clapped her palms together in front of her. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

“Fine,” she answered, her voice still shaking, “then let’s at least buy him some time.”

Shen quickly gathered his partner’s intention and slowly and painfully sat next to her and mirrored her meditative stance. A second went by without incident, save for Shouwang’s ferocious attacks outside the turtle shield. Then the pair began to glow a bright red and golden yellow color that matched their respective color schemes. Outside the shield two disembodied astral projections appeared on both sides of the monster. As they took shape, Adrien and Marinette’s eyes widened. One took the shape of a massive black cat resembling a panther with yellow eyes that instantly locked onto the Beast King. The other was a magenta-colored mix between a butterfly and an angel dressed in red battle armor. In her right hand was a single silver spear. Despite her angelic appearance, the feminine figure appeared fierce and determined, more akin to the High Middle Ages depictions of warrior angels fighting demons than a renaissance cherub. Marinette’s mouth opened in shock as she noticed the distinctive single black dot on her forehead as well as her deep blue eyes.

_Tikki?!_ she voiced in disbelief.

The panther growled and bared its fangs as it circled around Shouwang. A deep and ferocious, yet somewhat familiar voice came out of its mouth.

“Stay away from my chosen!”

Adrien blinked several times in stunned silence. _Plagg?_

The black cat leapt onto the Beast King and drove his teeth into his shoulder. As Shouwang roared, Tikki made several thrusts with the spear in the direction of the monster’s chest, forcing him to parry with his paw and pivot away from the relentless assault.

_WHAT?!_ Their thoughts screamed in unison.

The Beast King grabbed this big cat version of Plagg and hurled him in Tikki’s direction. The creation kwami dodged and threw her spear like a javelin, narrowly missing the monster’s neck. The spear then returned to her hand and she swung at Shouwang as he attempted to strike her with his paw. A deep gash formed in his chest, causing black blood to seep out onto his fur. Though bloodied and winded, his wounds only seemed to increase his rage and savagery. He grabbed her spear and shoved her to the floor, pinning her with the butt of her own weapon. Plagg pounced on him again, managing to land a nasty bite on the demon’s shoulder. Snarling, Shouwang pulled him off and held him by the neck in midair. He smiled in amusement as the black cat clawed at his arm, unsuccessfully trying to free himself. Without even looking he stopped another Tikki spear thrust with his free hand. His expression remained sinister and smug as he struggled with his kwami opponent in close quarters.

“What’s the matter?” he asked, turning his attention to Plagg, “too afraid to use your cataclysm here? The centuries have made you soft.”

“You won’t be saying that when I BITE YOUR NECK OFF!” Plagg answered with a roar.

“You will NOT take these chosens away from us!” Tikki hissed with a vehemence Marinette didn’t think was possible from her little kwami. “They. Will. Live!”

Shouwang laughed. “You’re already close to failing on that one!”

At this point the fire had caused enough structural damage to trigger a partial collapse of the warehouse. Rubble came down in droves, passing harmlessly through Marinette and Adrien to unveil a partly cloudy moonlit night in Hong Kong. Fu’s shield withstood the collapsing roof, but as the debris gathered around them, he fell to the ground from exhaustion. As the turtle shell disappeared, Shouwang turned to see Hei Mao and Ladybug still locked in a meditative trance. His mouth watered as he observed their helpless and vulnerable state. The two kwamis instantly noticed and looked back in alarm. Thinking quickly, Tikki dislodged her spear from the monster’s grasp and stuck it into his arm, forcing him to free Plagg. The monster seemed to hardly notice the pain as he sprinted on all fours to the early twentieth century heroes while Plagg and Tikki raced after him. 

Seemingly out of nowhere, a black and white striped staff that was curved on its end extended forwarded towards the back of the monster. That curve hooked around one of Shouwang’s back legs, tripping him up and allowing Plagg and Tikki’s spectral forms to return to their chosens in time. He glanced over his shoulder, glowering in rage at the hero that stopped him. Standing a top a pile of smoldering rubble was another Chinese male hero with horns on the side of his head whose shape resembled that of a ram. The part of the uniform that covered the torso was solid white in color while his legs and arms were a solid black. He retracted his weapon which appeared to be a shepherd’s crook, a curved stick often used by pastoralists to herd sheep. Behind this goat miraculous hero were three others standing among a group of defeated warriors dressed in black lying at their feet. Marinette recognized them as individuals wielding the bee, monkey, and pig miraculous. They stood at the ready as Shouwang stalked towards them on all fours as the snakes on his back hissed in hatred.

“Insects,” he mouthed in disgust, “did you really think defeating my followers would matter?”

His yellow eyes brightened in sudden ecstasy as his long gray tongue lapped over his canines. He cackled like a hyena, unleashing a sound so unnerving that the group of four took a step back. The pig hero pointed her weapon, which resembled a rake, defensively at the enemy.

“You are merely appetizers,” he declared with a snarl.

Without even looking back, Shouwang swatted an attacking yo-yo out of the air. He then glanced over his shoulder to see the two main heroes on their feet. Hei Mao supported himself on his staff, barely able to keep himself standing. His counterpart’s hands trembled as her gaze locked onto the Beast King with unshakable focus. Seeing this, the demon took a few steps toward the pair.

“Though I haven’t forgotten the main course.”

At that moment a hero dressed in a dark brown body suit and sunglasses appeared from behind the rubble and approached Shouwang from his flanks. A halo of blue energy manifested around his wrist.

“Voyage!” he shouted.

As soon as those words left his lips, Shouwang wheeled around as if his body was on fire. A portal emerged behind him, displaying an image resembling molten lava. Before this new hero could react, the monster grabbed him and hurled him into his own portal. Elizabeth covered her mouth and screamed as he was thrown in. She fell to her knees and began to sob. Hei Mao temporarily lost his balance and appeared crestfallen and lost while he struggled to keep himself upright. The demon looked over his shoulder to see the other heroes speechless and heartbroken as well.

Shouwang couldn’t help but smile to see his enemies so broken at the loss of their comrade. He shook his head. “Did you really think you’d be the first hero to have the idea to use the horse miraculous to send me to…oh let me guess…the center of the earth? A volcano? The sun? My dear child, I have centuries of experience fighting heroes. I know your games.”

The British Ladybug wept bitterly, seemingly unaware that Shouwang was drawing closer. “Though I admit,” the demon said as he raised his claws to strike, “using yourselves as distractions was fairly clever.”

Elizabeth then removed her hands from her face. Her eyes were full of tears but instead of sorrow, a gleeful smirk materialized on her face. She wiped her eyes and began to laugh.

“But, unfortunately for you, he _was_ the distraction,” she replied.

Shouwang’s eyes widened as he heard something come out of the open portal behind him. The horse hero emerged from the other side, completely unharmed. At his side were two more heroes who possessed the snake and rabbit miraculous. The snake hero appeared to be a Chinese woman while the rabbit hero possessed a fair European complexion. His red hair made him bear a striking resemblance to Bunnyx, something Marinette noted with discomfort. Without letting time for the villain to react, the rabbit hero made a portal. The snake hero then stuck her hand into the white circle and activated her own power.

“Second chance!” she cried out.

As the two time-traveling miraculous powers merged, the portal turned a sickly green. A burst of energy erupted, knocking both Shouwang and the heroes off their feet. The initial outward explosion was replaced by a violent whirlwind that sucked everything towards the portal entrance. The goat hero wrapped his extendable staff around his comrades and drove his weapon into the earth, keeping them from being drawn into the vortex. The Beast King, sensing the danger, went prone and dug his claws into the ground. He held on for dear life, managing to avoid the portal but unable to mount a counterattack.

At the same time, the five-minute time delay on the Black Cat and Ladybug Miraculouses expired. As he clung tightly to a collapsed pillar, Hei Mao activated his Cataclysm. The second his hand lit up with destructive energy, he did something Adrien did not expect. After a brief moment of concentration, Shen’s eyes glowed a radiant golden yellow. The energy in his hand then exploded, emanating chaotically in several directions as bursts of black lightning. Ladybug followed suit, summoning her lucky charm. The object that landed in her hands was a single nail, but to Marinette’s surprise she had little interest in it. Instead she instantly discarded the item and activated the Miraculous Ladybug power. Elizabeth’s eyes burned a bright magenta color, and she performed several elegant pirouettes. Rather than dispersing in all directions, the swarm of red and black restorative energy descended on her, mirroring her movements.

Though both displays of power were equally spectacular in their own right, it wasn’t until they joined hands that Marinette and Adrien understood the full scope of what was about to be unleashed. The black cataclysm lightning and Miraculous Ladybug flurry merged, forming an explosive storm cloud of raw thunderous energy that swirled over them like a hurricane. Static electricity rippled through the air, causing the hair of the two heroes to stand on end. On the ground below them, a purple _taijitu_ formed, the Chinese symbol for yin and yang. Elizabeth, her eyes and body alit with the power of the Ladybug miraculous, pulled Shen closer to her. She placed her hand on his feverish cheek and leaned forward to brush her forehead against his. She then backed up and spun around, pulling him into a sort of lovers’ dance. At one point she landed in his arms, only to rise up and continue to lead him with in this strange miraculous ballet. As their movements gained momentum, the _taijitu_ below them and the storm above them spun faster. Once both revolutions had reached a fever pitch, the two heroes stopped their dance and pointed at the enemy.

Shouwang could only watch helplessly as the wave of force from the Black Cat and Ladybug Miraculouses crashed into him. Lifting him off his feet, the blast carried him into the violent vortex left by the snake and rabbit miraculouses. The Beast King released one last hateful snarl of defiance as he disappeared into the portal. Then he disappeared, and a moment later the green gateway followed suit, disappearing into nothing. The demon was gone, leaving nothing but a smoking battlefield in his wake.

Once the monster was gone, the _taijitsu_ vanished, and Hei Mao immediately collapsed. Elizabeth caught him and begged him to de-transform. Shen obeyed and his hero suit vanished in a green flash, revealing a Chinese man wearing a black hotel uniform. His skin was remarkably pale, and several black scars were forming on his face. As soon as Plagg emerged, he rushed to his chosen’s right shoulder and began chanting. Adrien winced and felt his hand move to his thigh as he heard Shen scream. He howled in agony and Marinette could do little but put a hand on her _chaton_ ’s shoulder as her partner trembled from the terrible sound coming from Hei Mao.

At last his screams began to die down. He appeared deathly ill, but his chest still moved with consistent, albeit feeble breaths. He opened his eyes, staring weakly at Elizabeth as some of her tears landed on his chest. She tenderly ran her fingers over his face.

“Do you remember,” she asked as she choked back a sob, “when you served me tea in the lobby of the Red Lion Hotel?”

Shen took a deep breath and nodded. “You saw the scars on my wrists from our battle the day before, and you knew who I was.”

She pulled him closer into an embrace. “I knew I had found the mysterious man who had fought at my side. The man I had come to love…”

Meanwhile the younger Fu had regained consciousness and now walked around the wreckage of the warehouse in a daze. He passed by the two Hong Kong heroes and bumped into the goat hero, who presented him with the Fox Miraculous. His expression immediately became pained as he held the object close to his chest. A few tears leaked from the future Guardian’s eyes.

“Mei,” he said softly, “I’m so sorry. This is all my fault.”

Marinette watched Fu’s reaction intently, suddenly intrigued. She turned to say something to her partner, but at that moment the vision suddenly darkened. The images of the past faded to black and the two began to ascend, unable to communicate as they were lifted up out of the dream space they were in. Though they could no longer hear each other’s thoughts, they continued to hold hands as they departed their surreal vision.

Ψ

The weight on Marinette’s eyelids gradually lifted and she blinked, groaning as sleep slowly drifted away from her. The room came into focus and she pushed herself upright. She immediately regretted that decision as the sudden movement made her see spots. She rubbed her head and muttered under her breath, looking around in a confused daze. Tikki floated up to greet her and placed an affectionate hand on her forehead.

“Welcome back sleepy-head,” she said.

On the other side of the divider, Adrien shifted on the mat and reluctantly opened his eyes. Almost instantly he was greeted with a powerful ache in his muscles, causing him to wince in discomfort. Plagg hovered above his head and watched him in feigned disinterest. He folded his arms and flicked his tail from side to side.

“Oh good. He’s finally awake,” he remarked with an obvious roll of the eyes.

Adrien lifted his head and shot his kwami an annoyed look. “Nice to see you too Plagg,” he muttered as he slowly sat up.

Master Fu sat in front of them both near the front door, waiting patiently as the two heroes overcame their grogginess and became fully awake. Wayzz floated above his master’s left shoulder, speaking softly into his ear. Neither hero could hear what the turtle kwami was saying, but Fu replied by merely shaking his head no. He closed his eyes and took deep, calming breaths. His hands trembled as he rested on his knees.

When he opened his eyes, any noticeable discomfort was gone. He smiled and asked, “Well, did it work? What did you see?”

Marinette lifted herself off the mat and slowly explained what they saw. She paused a few times while she recounted the horrifying sight of Shouwang as well as his victims. A sudden pang of anguish passed over the Guardian’s face as she mentioned the sight of the Fox Miraculous. Finally, she ended the story with the final touching moment with Shen and Elizabeth. She did not mention witnessing Fu’s apology to Mei.

“It…was a success then,” he replied as he rubbed his beard in thought.

“Sure,” Adrien replied as he scratched his head and chuckled nervously, “if you count seeing our new enemy’s monster form and power as a success. Personally, I don’t see it that way.”

“It was necessary for you to see what Shouwang is and what he is capable of.”

“That I understand,” Adrien replied as he lowered his eyebrows, “what I don’t understand is why you never mentioned him until now.”

Fu averted Adrien’s gaze and paused. “That…that would not be wise. To mention his name invites terrible misfortune. The Guardians would never speak his name except in a hushed whisper. I thought it best to follow their example and keep that bit of Miraculous history from you.”

“A lot of good that did!” Adrien fired back. “He’s back and now he wants to eat us. I repeat… _eat us_!”

“I am well aware of that,” Fu answered, his tone stern and resolute.

Adrien grinded his teeth together and clenched his fists. An unexpected wave of animosity inundated his mind, making his thoughts reverberate in anger. He pointed to his ring and sneered.

“Then why the hell would you give us these objects in the first place?!” he thundered. “Were you trying to get us killed?!”

“Chat!” Marinette admonished from the other side of the divider. 

“What? That’s a reasonable question to ask.”

Fu sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. “I did not think it was possible for him to return.”

“Why not?” Adrien pressed as he threw up his hands. “Didn’t you say that he’s escaped before?”

“This time was different,” the Guardian countered, his voice somewhat elevated in volume. “The previous times he was sealed in a physical location. But in that last battle you saw he was cast into a void outside of time and space.”

Marinette scratched her head and pondered over the events of her dream. She pointed her index fingers in different directions, forming an x shape with them. “So…the snake miraculous and the rabbit miraculous were combined to make that portal that sucked Shouwang in?”

Fu nodded. “Yes. The rabbit miraculous pulled him back in time and the snake miraculous made him repeat the moment he was defeated over and over again.”

“I didn’t even know it was possible for two miraculous powers to combine,” she replied.

“It is,” Fu answered, “But it is incredibly dangerous and unpredictable. The two heroes need to possess a strong, special bond in order for it to work. And even then, there are risks. When Elizabeth first tested this plan to defeat Shouwang, Hien, the snake hero, was nearly sucked into the vortex. The rabbit hero Darragh managed to snag her foot with his parasol before she disappeared into the portal completely, but it took all of our strength to pull her out. In those harrowing thirty seconds, Hien was forced to relive the moment she was dragged into the void again and again without end. When we finally pulled her out, she was trembling and whimpering. Hien was no coward, but the thought of her being stuck in that timeless hell chilled her to the very bone.”

The heroes fell silent for several moments. Marinette swallowed nervously as she contemplated such an awful fate. Adrien’s face remained largely expressionless. He merely stared intently at Master Fu. When he spoke, his tone was lower than usual.

“Ok, so you thought he couldn’t get out, but he did,” he said, “so let’s cut the crap and get to the point. Will Shouwang hunt us only when we are transformed, or are we still vulnerable when we are not in costume?”

Fu appeared momentarily frozen, unable to answer. Then he lowered his head and placed his hands on his knees. Wayzz patted his shoulder as the old master averted their gaze.

“You…are vulnerable as civilians as well,” he reluctantly explained, “if you were just vulnerable as heroes, I would take your miraculouses and flee the city to keep you safe. But it’s too late. Once you use a miraculous, it doesn’t matter if you are in your hero form or not. You are automatically on his radar and he will hunt you until he finds you.”

Color appeared to drain from their faces upon hearing this information. Marinette felt an icy pit grow in her stomach, sending a nauseating and panicked sensation throughout her body. She covered her mouth and inhaled deeply through her nose. Tikki floated to her shoulder and attempted to comfort her chosen with her presence. Adrien clenched his fists to keep his hands from shaking. As he looked down at them, his heart rate briefly skyrocketed with fear. Then that feeling abruptly switched back to anger, and he clenched his fists even tighter.

Master Fu got on his knees and bowed his head almost to the floor. “Forgive me.”

Adrien spoke up first, his words slow and methodical in their harsh delivery. “You have put us and our friends and family in danger.”

“I know,” Fu replied with his head still low to the ground. “And for that I beg your forgiveness.”

Something snapped in Adrien’s mind. The trickle of negative, aggressive thoughts became a torrent. His expression darkened and he found himself slamming his fist against the mat.

“Forgiveness won’t matter if we’re DEAD!” he yelled.

Plagg, who had merely observed his chosen’s reactions until now, sighed. “Oh boy, here we go.”

On the other side of the divider, Marinette immediately rebuked her partner. “Chat! That was uncalled for!”

Adrien stood up and glared at her silhouette through the white fabric of the Chinese furniture piece. “How was that NOT called for?! Do you not see the situation we’re in?”

Marinette stood up and met his gaze, staring at the shadowy outline of her partner. Her expression and body language remained firm, refusing to give ground.

“Yes, I do,” she answered, her voice harsher than before, “but continuing to blame Master Fu is not going to solve anything. We should be focusing on what to do next.”

The growing rage in Adrien’s mind continued to build. He threw up his hands and escalated his voice nearly to the point of yelling. “So, we’re just going to ignore the fact that he has given us objects that have made us the main entrees of an ancient demon’s dinner?!”

“At least let us hear him out first!” she retorted.

“Hear him out first,” Adrien replied sarcastically as his poisonous thoughts boiled over. He turned to Master Fu and gave him a spiteful look. “Yes, let’s hear why he thought it was a good idea to give these magical death traps to two kids.”

Marinette growled and grinded her teeth. She pointed her right index finger at Chat’s outline. “Do not make me come over there!”

At this moment Adrien merely laughed. He leaned against the divider and continued laughing for several seconds. Plagg raised an eyebrow as his chosen continued to aggravate his partner with abandon.

“‘Do not make me come over there!’” Adrien repeated, mocking her voice. He wiped away a tear from his eye. “What’s your plan my lady? Waltz over here and spill both of our identities? I thought we weren’t supposed to do that. I mean, you keep reminding me of that very thing over and over again.”

Marinette’s left eyelid twitched in outrage. She stomped her foot on the mat, drawing an invisible line in her mind. A line that Chat had just crossed. She turned to Tikki and gave her a nod, signaling her intentions. Her kwami nodded back in understanding.

“Tikki, spots on!”

Marinette transformed, creating a flash of light behind the divider. The smug smile on Adrien’s face instantly faded. A red and black polka-dotted hand grabbed the divider and flung it to the side in one fluid motion, letting it clatter on the floor. The young Agreste scion flinched as Ladybug stomped towards him. For a terrifying moment he feared his identity would be revealed, but when he reluctantly met her gaze, he noted that her eyes were sealed shut. Her fists were clenched, her eyebrows were lowered, and her mouth was curled in a half-snarl that let him know full well that she was pissed off. The aggressive negativity in his mind dissipated and he swallowed with sudden anxiety.

Fu looked away from the confrontation and eyed the divider on the floor. He sighed. “That was an antique.”

Adrien bit his lip. The last minute had been an unexpected surge of anger he couldn’t fully explain, and now he that he felt calmer, he was left to deal with the aftermath. He rubbed his neck awkwardly and took a step back as Ladybug continued to blindly stare him down.

“Um…I’m sorr-” he said, clearing his throat.

“Transform so I can glare at you,” his partner cut him off through clenched teeth.

Adrien cast a nervous glance to Plagg. The floating black cat just shook his head as if to say: _You got yourself into this one kid. You’re going to have to dig your way out._

He groaned and spoke in almost a whisper. “Plagg, claws out.”

After the flash of green and yellow disappeared, Ladybug opened her eyes and got even closer to Chat’s face. Ordinarily he would have greatly enjoyed this closeness, but the unyielding look of angry tenacity directed towards him made it far less enjoyable. She raised her right hand and Chat instinctively braced himself for a slap. Instead her hand clasped his shoulder.

“Chat,” she said calmly but firmly. “Stop. I’m upset too and I’m scared. But yelling at Master Fu won’t solve anything. We have a new dangerous enemy and there’s no getting around that. So knock it off.”

“Besides,” she added, turning to Fu. “He’s in the same boat we are. Aren’t you Master Fu?”

Fu took a moment to collect himself and nodded. His hands trembled slightly, but he clenched them tightly. He looked up and smiled. “Yes. I am a target as well. But do not worry about me. I have plenty of miraculous at my disposal and I have already lived a long time. We need to focus on keeping you alive.”

“Easier said than done,” Chat replied. He looked down towards the mat, avoiding eye contact with his partner. “You saw how powerful Hei Mao and the Ladybug from back then were, and even then, they _barely_ defeated Shouwang. We’re nowhere close to their level. We didn’t learn anything from that dream except how unprepared we are.”

“That’s not true,” Ladybug replied, shaking her head, “There was a lot of information we can use now.”

She held a finger up from her left hand as she noted her first observation. “Number one: keep your distance and circle him constantly. He’s mostly a close-ranged fighter, so if we counterattack from a distance, we have a better advantage. If he attacks one of us from the front, then the other should hit from behind to keep him constantly off balance. And if he has to eat heroes to gain more power, than he may not be able to do things like breathe fire yet.”

Chat nodded, his eyes widening. “That would certainly be preferable.”

Ladybug continued. “Number two: The two white snakes on his back have the deadlier black venom. We should avoid getting bitten at all, but we definitely need to steer clear of those two. Number three: He can be trapped using a combination of miraculous powers. We may not be able to use the snake and rabbit miraculous like they did back then, but there could be some other combo we could use against him.”

She held up a fourth finger and a tremor of disgust appeared in her voice. “Number four: he’s arrogant. He wants to become a god, so we’re obviously dealing with an ego that makes Hawk Moth’s look minor in comparison. We have seen that he can be tricked, so with enough teamwork and strategy he can be defeated.”

Chat placed a paw on his head and grabbed hold of his blonde hair. He groaned, his mind still reeling from the outburst earlier. He scratched his scalp and then lowered his hand, glancing down at his black ring. A chill went down his spine as the object he considered to be a source of freedom took on a much more ominous significance in his mind.

“You sound so sure,” he said.

Ladybug’s bottom lip twitched slightly. She inhaled sharply through her nose and exhaled sharply. “I’m not. But we have no choice but to try. Besides, ladybugs are good luck, remember?”

Chat raised an eyebrow and held up his ring for her to see. “Uh yeah, and I’m bad luck in case you forgot. There’s a reason why the past Ladybug survived and Hei Mao didn’t.”

Fu cleared his throat and interrupted. “Actually, Shen did survive. I wasn’t sure how long your vision lasted so I thought you knew. Though he did suffer from debilitating injuries and significant facial scarring that lasted the rest of his life.”

Chat’s shoulders dropped as he gave the Guardian an obvious grumpy cat look. “Right. That’s definitely more encouraging,” he replied, rolling his eyes.

“Chat…” Ladybug warned, raising her voice again.

He turned back to her, expecting another lecture. It never came. Instead she lowered her hand and placed it in his, then lifted both of them up near shoulder height. Her face softened as she stared intently at him.

“You told me that no matter what happens, you won’t leave my side,” she reminded him. “Now I’m telling you that I won’t leave yours. So get a hold of yourself and let’s face it like we always have. Together.”

The tension in Chat’s facial muscles relaxed in the sight of Ladybug’s gentle and caring smile. His tormented thoughts faded as she held his hand. The feeling didn’t surpass the sensation of holding her bare hand from earlier that day, but it brought him a sudden peace of mind. He nodded slightly, barely blinking as he took in every detail of her compassionate expression. The fearful thoughts were brushed aside at the moment, almost as if his lady was the calming eye of the storm in the middle of a hurricane.

_Even after all these years, I turn into a puddle of goo inside when she looks at me like that,_ he thought. _She’s given me no reason to doubt her before, so why should I start now?_

“I’m sorry, I don’t know what came over me,” he said, slowly withdrawing his hand from her grasp. He looked to the side and rubbed his neck. “But no matter how you look at it, we are in deep kitty litter with this new development, if you know what I mean. I presume you have a plan.”

“The beginnings of one,” she replied, placing her hands on her hips. “And I intend to start it right now.”

She turned to Master Fu, her appearance suddenly hardening. There was no anger in her expression, but her face radiated an ironclad resolve. She held out her hand and announced, “Master Fu, I am going to need some miraculouses.”

Fu tilted his head slightly, taken aback at the sudden request. “Which ones and why right now?”

“Every single miraculous I have lent out up till now, and I think you know why,” she answered.

The Guardian raised his eyebrows and stroked his beard in thought. Wayzz, suddenly alarmed, floated up to Ladybug and shook his head.

“That is unwise Ladybug,” he warned, “Hawk Moth is still out there and having more miraculous out in the open-”

Ladybug abruptly silenced him with a savage stare that made the turtle kwami float away in sudden retreat. Chat, a little slower to the punch as usual, furrowed his eyebrows in thought before grasping his head with both hands as the realization hit home.

“Oh….my God,” Chat breathed. “Rena Rogue, Carapace, Viperion, Pegasus, and Chl0-I mean Queen Bee. They would be…”

“Exactly,” Ladybug affirmed before he could finish. “And what’s _unwise_ is allowing my allies, temporary or not, to be hunted by Shouwang without any protection. I’m the one who gave them their miraculouses and I have now put them in grave danger. The least I can do is give them a chance to fight back and support Chat and me.”

Master Fu remained silent for several moments. He nodded his head several times and opened his mouth to speak. He unexpectedly cut himself off and thought some more, hesitation creeping into his features. Finally, he stood up and let out a deep breath before slowly walking to the record player with his hands behind his back.

“I understand your reasoning Ladybug,” he said as he punched in the code to get to the miraculous box. “But it is still very risky. Hawk Moth might anticipate that you will do this. And if you give the Bee Miraculous to Chloé again, you will leave the door right open for him to strike.”

Ladybug made a face, biting her lip for a moment. She closed her eyes and rubbed her temples and muttered some of her racing thoughts under her breath. Chat watched as she paced the mat for a few seconds.

“I know and I’m working on a way around that,” she replied as she scratched her chin in thought. “Do you have some pens and paper that we could borrow?”

“There should be some in the desk in my bedroom.”

Ladybug went to collect the materials needed and told Chat to collect the miraculouses of their allies. When Fu placed the box down and opened it, the young Parisian hero marveled at the various objects of magical power. A touch of childish delight emerged in his voice.

“Cool, I’ve never seen the inside of this before,” he said before placing a fist under his chin in thought. After a moment he started collecting the necessary miraculouses, listing them out loud.

“Okay let’s see. The fox for Rena Rogue, the Snake for Viperion, the Bee for Queen Bee, and for Carapace…”

His voice trailed off as he noticed the turtle wasn’t there. His eyes then wandered to Master Fu’s wrist, which currently held the silver and green bracelet. Chat looked at the Guardian awkwardly and cleared his throat. Fu grimaced and shook his head.

“I’m assuming you will be needing this as well,” he admitted as he touched his old miraculous with a reluctant look in his eyes.

Chat turned his head toward the hallway and loudly asked, “Hey Ladybug, are we taking the turtle from Master Fu as well?”

“Yes,” she answered bluntly as she emerged from the bedroom, carrying the stack of paper and pens close to her chest. “Carapace needs the miraculous he is used to.”

Chat turned to Fu again and shrugged before holding out his hand and smiling mischievously. The old Guardian acquiesced and reached for his wrist. Wayzz flew up to Fu’s face and held his tiny hands together as a form of protest.

“Master please,” he begged. “I don’t mind working with-”

Wayzz suddenly choked and several green bubbles popped out of his mouth, preventing him from accidentally revealing his new charge’s identity. As soon as that episode passed, he continued his appeal as if nothing happened.

“But I cannot leave your side during this crisis. You know Shouwang will hunt all holders of miraculouses, past or present. And if he figures out you’re still alive, he will no doubt seek vengeance.”

Fu’s face became serene as he looked at his old companion’s anxious expression. He patted Wayzz lightly on the head and smiled. He then bowed slightly as a form of thanks and respect.

“My dear friend, you’ve been at my side for so many years,” he reminded him, “and I can never repay you for your kindness and loyalty. But my time has long passed. If worse comes to worse, I have the other miraculouses here for support. But it’s time for you to move on and empower a much younger hero. Forgive me, but with Shouwang’s return, we have no choice but to part. Goodbye Wayzz.”

For a moment the turtle kwami seemed at a loss for words. Crestfallen, he hung his tiny head and sighed deeply. He flew closer to his master and reluctantly bowed, acquiescing to the Guardian’s will.

“Goodbye master,” he said.

Master Fu took off the bracelet and Wayzz disappeared into the miraculous with a flash of green light. Chat put the miraculous in its box and handed it to Ladybug, who organized that box as well as the three others in front of four separate letters that she was furiously writing to her allies. She paused for a moment and tapped her cheek with the pen as she thought about her messages.

“Let’s see,” she mused out loud, “I should be able to catch Rena Rogue and Carapace at home, so I don’t think I need to write much for them. Viperion’s out of town, so he’s going to need a much longer explanation. Chloé’s going to need _very specific_ instructions to only use this for emergencies.”

“Isn’t it kind of risky just going to the hotel and dropping the Bee Miraculous off?” Chat asked. “Hawk Moth would easily be able to predict that.”

“We’re not taking it to the hotel,” Ladybug explained as she put the finishing touches on her letter to Chloé. She handed it and the box to Chat. “You’re going to take this to her butler Jean’s address, and he will give it to Chloe. Hawk Moth won’t suspect anything out of the ordinary if he sees him show up for work as normal.”

“Ahh,” Chat replied as he tapped the side of his head, “good thinking. Give it to her covertly. I like it. But…how do I figure out his address?”

Ladybug paused her writing for a moment and lifted her head. She blinked several times, seemingly stumped on the answer. After a few seconds, she snapped her fingers and went back to the letters.

“Go online and see if there’s a hotel directory you can access,” she replied. “He has to live close to the hotel.”

Chat shrugged and opened up his baton to access his cat phone. After a few minutes of silent typing, he bit his lip and groaned in frustration.

“There is a directory, but it’s password protected,” he lamented.

Ladybug rubbed her forehead upon hearing this news. She tapped the mat and tried to think. “Great, just great. Now I have to come up with a plan B.”

“Wait, maybe I can guess the password,” the feline hero said, sounding suddenly hopeful. “Let’s see, the mayor owns the hotel and Chloé is his daughter so what about ‘Chloé is the best’?”

His partner rolled her eyes. “Chat, there’s now way that’s going to work. You can’t just randomly g-”

“I got in!” he announced triumphantly.

Ladybug’s mouth fell agape for a moment before she shook her head slowly in disbelief. “Unbelievable.”

With the address successfully retrieved, Ladybug finished her letters and tied them with string to their respective miraculous boxes. She paused for a moment and did a roll call.

“Ok let’s see, we have Carapace, Rena Rogue, Viperion, and Queen Bee. Is there anyone I’m missing?”

“What about Pegasus?” Chat pointed out.

“I think we can skip Max,” she replied. “I…have received information that he is attending a special school in Japan this year for talented students in advanced robotics and AI. He should already be in Tokyo and I doubt Shouwang intends to go all the way to Japan.”

Chat nodded his head as he suddenly recalled that Max Kanté had told him at the end of their last school year that he would not be moving on to _lycée_ in Paris with the rest of Collège Françoise Dupont. Instead he had accepted an offer from an elite Japanese school that was dedicated to the study of artificial intelligence. Apparently, the invention of his robot buddy Markov was finally getting noticed.

“Oh right,” he mentioned without thinking.

“What?” Ladybug asked, suddenly perplexed.

“What do you mean, what? What did I say?”

“You said ‘oh right’ like you already knew that Max wouldn’t be in France. How would you know that?” she asked, her eyes narrowing in suspicion.

The black cat averted his lady’s eyes for a moment before forcing a laugh. “Did I say ‘oh right’? I meant to just say ‘Oh’ as in I had no idea. Don’t know why I said that. I guess I’m just tired and saying things. I mean this day has been…well you know.”

Ladybug gave him a strange look but then shrugged it off and returned to the task at hand. She counted the boxes again to make sure they were all accounted for.

“That should be it,” she said aloud, “I don’t think I gave anyone else a miraculous. We don’t have any other hero alli-”

With absolutely no warning the look on Ladybug’s face turned to pure horror and she let out a high-pitched scream. “OH MY GOD! ADRIEN!”

Chat nearly fell over backwards after hearing the name of his secret identity called out at such high volume. Fu stared at the two of them with his mouth wide open, completely stunned at the sudden outburst. He stole a glance at Chat Noir as his confusion mounted. Ladybug for her part, put her hands in her hair as her expression neared full panic-mode.

Finally, the Guardian cleared his throat and broke the silence. “Ladybug, what are you talking about? Did you give someone named Adrien a miraculous?”

“Yes!” she admitted before placing her head in her hands, covering her face. “It was when we fought Desperada. I initially gave the snake miraculous to Adrien Agreste and he used it a bunch, but our plan kept failing. So he gave it back and then I gave it to Viperion.”

She talked even faster as the full weight of the dire meaning of this act hit home. “And now he’s going to need a miraculous for his own protection. But it will have to a different one because the snake’s going to Viperion. But even with a miraculous there’s no getting around the fact that he’s going to be hunted by Shouwang and it’s all my fault!”

She let out a deep breath as her rant ended and bit her fingers as she contemplated this horrific realization. Meanwhile Master Fu slowly processed the news that Ladybug had rapidly delivered. Slowly but surely, he turned his head toward Chat and levelled an unpleasant and knowing glare in his direction. The feline hero swallowed nervously as the Guardian stared daggers at him.

_Oh...I’m in trouble, aren’t I?…_ he thought to himself.

Fu quickly masked his anger and put on a smile. He reached into the chest and said, “Well I guess it can’t be helped. I suppose I can part with one more.”

He held up a small thumb ring. “How about the cock…I mean the rooster miraculous. I’m sure that one would be suitable for him.”

_Ah…well played old man, well played_ , Chat thought as he quickly understood the not so subtle insult directed at him.

Fortunately, Ladybug seemed too engrossed in her shock to notice the unspoken exchange between Master Fu and Chat Noir. She covered her mouth for a moment as if she was about to become physically sick. She swallowed the feeling down and took some calming breaths through her nose. As she gradually calmed down, she eyed the rooster miraculous held in Fu’s hand. She stared at it blankly for a while before shaking her head.

“No,” she finally replied, “he struggled to use a complicated power like time travel. It would be best to give him something straightforward and easy to use, one that could give him an advantage if we can’t protect him on our own.”

She looked at the remaining open miraculouses in the chest before her. Her hand reached out and briefly hesitated over the objects. She then picked up a collar necklace and held it up for all of them to see.

“Loyalty, perseverance, honesty, and kindness,” Ladybug said with a noticeable amount of tenderness in her voice. “Those are the qualities I would associate with Adrien Agreste. I think the Dog Miraculous would work well for him.”

_Okay_ , Adrien thought to himself as his partner unknowingly complimented him to his face, _I suppose a dog is better than a cock._

“If…that is what you think is best,” Fu chimed in.

“It is,” she replied as she clenched the miraculous in her hand, “I will have to give this to him right away.”

Chat’s eyes widened as he suddenly remembered he forgot to stuff pillows under his blanket at home to give the impression that he was sleeping. Noticeably alarmed, he began to carefully reach for the miraculous in her hand.

“Why don’t you let me take the Dog Miraculous to Adrien?” Chat offered. “I already know where the Agreste Mansion is since we’ve already fought there before.”

Ladybug instinctively pulled her hand away from Chat without even looking at him. “No. I messed up and put him in danger. I should be the one to give it to him.”

A bead of sweat ran down Chat’s face as his mind scrambled for a plan B. He briefly looked to Master Fu for support, but the unamused expression the Guardian greeted him with offered no sympathy: _You dug yourself into this mess, you can dig yourself out_ , he seemed to be silently telling him.

Ladybug then lowered her head with dejection and guilt written on her face. She sighed. “On second thought, I don’t think I want to see the look on his face when he learns I made him the target of a horrible monster. I will already have to do that for the others tonight, but to someone who has virtually no experience as a superhero…?”

She wordlessly handed the miraculous and its box to Chat. Her face remained pointed in the direction of the floor as she told him, “You take it to him Chat. But please…be sensitive about it. He will be scared enough as it is, so don’t make it worse than it has to be.”

Chat held up his right hand to confirm his oath. “I promise I will deliver the message to Adrien as best as I possibly can. You have my word.”

Fu coughed and loudly cleared his throat. Ladybug looked at the Guardian with some concern. The look in Chat’s face was a tad more hostile.

“Forgive me,” Fu said as he hit his chest a few times, “I think the drywall in the air is irritating my throat.”

With the extra miraculous selected, the two prepared to set out to visit their other allies. Chat put the dog miraculous and the envelope containing the bee miraculous and letter to Chloé Bourgeois in his pocket. Ladybug opened up her yo-yo and stuffed the Fox and Snake Miraculouses beneath its aura of pink light. As they stood up to leave, Master Fu rose to his feet as well.

“Well,” she said as she took in a deep breath, “I guess we’re really doing this.”

“Indeed,” Fu responded, “you two are making some grave decisions, ones that definitely carry significant risks. But never before have you faced a threat such as this. You will need to prepare yourselves and your allies for an enormous challenge ahead. Ladybug, as my heir, I trust that you will continue to make the right calls in the weeks and months ahead.”

Chat turned to Ladybug and raised an eyebrow, his curiosity piqued. “Heir?” he asked. “What’s this about being an heir?”

His partner cut him off with a wave of her hand. “I’ll explain later. But…Master Fu, I do have one more question. We saw incredible powers from Hei Mao and the Hong Kong Ladybug. If the current Shouwang is anything like the monster we saw, we’re definitely going to need them as well. Is there anything we can do to get that strong?”

Chat nodded in agreement and placed his palms together as a desperate plea. “Yes, _please_ tell me we don’t have to be adults to do that. We definitely don’t have that kind of time.”

“Not necessarily,” the Guardian answered. “Using your special ability without needing to transform is likely something you won’t be able to do until you reach adulthood. However, your two miraculouses are special and they do have the capacity to manifest secondary powers. The two exist in a balance, yin and yang. They strengthen and empower the other, but the users must be in sync so that they may grow together.”

Ladybug moved her right hand in a circle to elicit a clearer response. “Meaning what exactly?”

“Meaning the black cat and ladybug hero have to strengthen their bond in order to become stronger,” he explained. “You two must become closer and be able to rely on each other without question. You must trust each other completely and get to know each other on an intimate level. Even if that might mean trusting each other with your greatest secret.”

The breath was suddenly stolen from Chat’s lungs and he took a few steps back. “Whoa…are you seriously talking about…our identities?”

Fu nodded, though there was some noticeable discomfort in his face. “If necessary, yes. Typically speaking, that level of trust has been necessary for the ladybug and black cat heroes to reach their full potential. Elizabeth and Shen knew who each other were when they fought Shouwang. But Hawk Moth is still out there, which complicates things. I will not tell you the right answer, because I don’t know myself. But if you decide to reveal your identities to each other, you will have my support.”

Chat’s mouth hung open as he replayed that final sentence from the Guardian in his head. He felt a tingling sensation in his chest that quickly spread throughout his entire body. For a moment a part of his brain rejected the statement, thinking his ears must be playing a trick on him. A different part of the brain responsible for hearing countered that, yes, he had in fact heard the master correctly. His heartrate increased and his mouth suddenly felt dry as he turned to gage his partner’s reaction. Her face initially appeared unmoved. But a closer examination revealed that Labybug was staring at the floor and biting half of her lip while several of the fingers on her left hand twitched erratically.

Finally, she lifted her head and spoke. “We will…think about it. I want to see how we do in the first few weeks before we take any significant step like that.”

Chat exhaled and nodded his head with some reluctance. He tried not to sound disappointed as he stated, “Yeah, that’s probably a good idea. We now have two major threats we have to deal with, which means we have to be even more cautious.”

Fu smiled, clearly pleased with their answer. “A wise response. Take care young heroes. And do not worry. I don’t plan on abandoning you. I will be there to give you more counsel soon.”

He leveled a subtle but stern gaze in Chat’s direction and added, “Perhaps sooner than you realize.”

_Oh…I’m still in trouble…_ Chat told himself as he swallowed nervously.

“Thank you Master. Any guidance you can provide may mean the difference between life or death. We will get through this together,” Ladybug replied.

A momentary pang of discomfort passed over Fu’s face. He winced and then stared off into space, apparently lost in thought. He turned and slowly walked toward his window. His eyes became transfixed on the image of the moon peeking out of the clouds and shining down on Paris below.

“Indeed,” he answered as he continued to gaze out the window.

The young heroes exchanged a look. Chat rubbed his arm and cleared his throat. He took a step toward the Guardian.

“In our dream, we heard about someone you-” Chat began.

The rest of his sentence was quickly cut off as Ladybug made an insistent slashing motion in front of her throat, imploring her partner to drop the subject. Chat bit his tongue and complied. Fu took a deep breath.

“Another time perhaps,” he said with a solemn air as he kept looking up at the sky. “I’d rather not go into such things right now.”

Sensing the mood, Ladybug motioned for them to leave. The two bade their goodbyes and promised to be careful in their nightly mission. Fu wished them good luck and listened as the sound of their footsteps echoed down the hall and then disappeared. An uncomfortable silence followed, one that was no longer filled by Wayzz’s constant presence. He continued looking at the shape of the moon, recalling a moonlit night so long ago with someone that was very dear to his heart. A moonlit night in which his grave mistake cost him and that someone so dearly.

Ψ

Getting the snake miraculous to Luka was easy enough. Since the Couffaines had been out of town for a large part of the summer, it was a simple matter of getting to the boat house on the Seine, going through his window and leaving the miraculous on his bed, and hoping that he wouldn’t hate her later. That last one seemed an unfortunate possibility as she noticed the framed photo near his bedside of her and Luka at the amusement park several months ago. The couple photo they had taken holding ice cream with the Ferris wheel in the background shot several guilty daggers into her heart.

“Oh Luka,” she lamented as she rubbed her forehead. “As if I hadn’t caused you enough pain.”

She looked around the room, recalling the multiple times he had serenaded her with his guitar as they sat on his bed. The sweet melodic chords replayed in her mind, soft memories that twisted those daggers of guilt even more. Shaking her head, she went out the window and swung her yo-yo to the nearest building, escaping the scene as quickly as possible. Once she was airborne again, she turned in the direction of Alya Cesaire’s apartment. Within a few minutes she made it to the building across the street from her residence. She did a quick check of her surroundings, listening carefully for any suspicious sounds nearby.

_If Mayura or an akuma tried to follow me_ , she thought, _that would be really bad._

Once she was satisfied that no one was watching her, she quickly and quietly slipped onto Alya’s balcony. She peeked through the screen window to get a view of the living room. As she suspected, Nino Lahiffe was there with Alya on the couch, resting an arm on her shoulder. Ladybug could hear they were listening to the news which was recounting their frightening battle from earlier that day. Alya frowned and said something to Nino which she couldn’t hear over the noise of the TV. She took a deep breath and got ready to knock on the window but hesitated when she saw Alya’s two younger sisters run into the room.

The twins giggled incessantly as they ran around the kitchen island, prompting a groan from their older sister. “What are you two doing? It’s bedtime,” Alya reminded them.

Ella and Etta ran in front of the TV, triumphantly holding up a few pieces of deflated white latex. The former proudly declared, “But look Alya, we found those cool balloons under your bed!”

Etta blew into one, enlarging it into its natural shape. The teenage couple stared in shock for a moment before both of their faces turned beet red. Alya immediately got on her feet and tried to rip them out of their hands.

“THOSE ARE NOT BALLOONS! GIVE THEM BACK!” she screamed.

The twins took off, prompting a desperate chase around the kitchen. Nino joined the chase, trying to cut them off. But the little girls managed to dodge him.

“No little dudes!” Nino pleaded with them. “Those are not toys!”

As the pursuit continued, Ladybug retreated to the brick wall to the right of the window, her eyes widened from the unexpected surprise she had just witnessed. Her face turned red and her heart rate doubled in intensity as she rapidly understood its implications. She swallowed saliva, stymying the growing dryness in her throat.

_Alya and Nino have been….oh my…_ she thought as she remembered how closely the two had paid attention to their sexual wellness class in their last year of _collège._

As Marinette internally processed this rather intimate information from her close friends, Alya and Nino continued the chase. They managed to get some, but not all of the “balloons” before Ella and Etta retreated to their room and locked the door. Their older sister pounded on said door, demanding that they give up the stolen objects.

“I’m going to give you to the count of three to open this door!” Alya announced as she puffed out her arms and stomped on the ground. “One, two…”

Ladybug, either sensing an opportunity or eager to put an end to the embarrassing fiasco, knocked on the screen door window. Nino turned his head to see her beckoning toward the balcony. He nodded and touched his girlfriend’s shoulder, stopping her from sounding the final number. Alya turned her head and quickly understood the message.

“Never mind,” she told her sisters in a much calmer tone, “Just throw them away after your done and don’t tell mom and dad!”

The pair quietly moved to the balcony and shut the screen door behind them. Ladybug stayed out of sight of the window, remaining in the shadows. She clutched her yo-yo in her hands as she made eye contact with her friends. She tried to resist the growing nauseating feeling in her gut as she cleared her throat.

“Sorry to jump in announced like this,” she apologized, “but this is urgent.”

Alya didn’t skip a beat. “It’s about the new villain we saw on TV, isn’t it?”

_Typical Alya_ , Marinette mused, _Way too smart for her own good._

“Yes,” Ladybug confirmed, “this new enemy…changes things. I’ll be brief but essentially I have good news and very… _very_ bad news.” 

Nino shifted uncomfortably. “Uh, let’s have the good news first.”

Ladybug drew in a deep breath. She opened up her yo-yo and pulled out the two miraculous boxes from the glow of pink light the object emitted. She handed them to her allies.

“The good news is from now on, you both will be keeping your miraculouses full time. You will no longer have to give them back to me after a mission.”

Nino stared at the closed box, his eyes widened in disbelief. “For real? That’s awesome.”

For a moment, Alya’s face matched the excited expression of her boyfriend. But it quickly dissipated.

“But this has to do with the very, very bad news, doesn’t it?”

Labybug bit her lip, closed her eyes, and nodded. The nauseating feeling worsened and her stomach twisted into knots. A few tears came to her eyes and she turned away. She walked to the railing and held onto it, refusing to look the other two in the eye.

_You can do this, just breathe and be honest,_ she told herself.

“The new villain you saw on the news,” Ladybug began, her voice cracking, “his name is Shouwang. He is an ancient and dangerous Chinese demon. One that hunts and…eats miraculous heroes. He has escaped from a timeless void and is now after Chat and me.”

She wiped her eyes and cautiously looked in their direction, adding, “…And anyone who has been a hero with us before.”

The couple stared blankly at Ladybug with their faces frozen in shock. Shock gradually gave way to horror as the gears in their heads began turning. Alya dropped her miraculous box on the floor. Nino swallowed and leaned against the screen door, trying to get his bearings.

“I’m sorry,” he said weakly, “but just to confirm, did you say a demon?”

“Yes,” she replied.

“Who eats miraculous heroes?” Nino continued.

“Yes.”

“Which means us,” Alya concluded. She folded her arms across her chest and shuddered. “Shouwang said anyone who’s touched a miraculous. We’re…we’re a target.”

Nino turned noticeably pale as he looked down at the miraculous box in his hands. His expression quickly changed from excitement to overwhelming dread.

“Not awesome,” he said weakly.

An uncomfortable silence ensued. Alya and Nino appeared shellshocked, staring off into nothing as the full significance of the danger made itself known in their minds. Ladybug opened her mouth to speak, but her voice faltered as she observed their faces. She recognized their expressions all too well. They possessed the same level of primal fear that she and Chat had come to experience in the past eight hours. She covered her mouth for a moment as the guilt nearly made her physically sick.

She took a few deep breaths before speaking. “The Guardian never told me about this threat until now,” she explained. “But that does not change the fact that by giving you the Turtle and Fox Miraculouses, I have put you both in terrible danger. The least I can do is give you the ability to defend yourselves at all times in case he finds you.”

Nino grimaced as he contemplated that horrific possibility. He took off his hat and wiped the growing nervous sweat off his brow. Meanwhile Alya refocused her attention on the miraculous box in her hands. She ran her fingers over the top of the object as the initial look of shock dissipated from her face.

“I remember when you first gave me this miraculous,” Alya replied as she pulled the box close to her chest, “I remember how incredible it felt to leap over the rooftops of Paris as its power flowed through me. I have thought of that night as the best moment in my life, the moment you let me become a superhero.”

She took a few steps forward and laid a hand on Ladybug’s shoulder. She smiled as she told her, “Even now I still think that it was the best moment of my life.”

Ladybug clenched her eyes shut for a moment as she felt a wave of tears rush to her eyelids. _Alya,_ she thought, _even now after what I’ve done to you, you still show how you are a much worthier hero than me._

“Tell me how I can help,” Alya said as she clenched her right hand into a fist, “if this new villain is going to a big threat, we should do our part to help.”

Nino turned to his girlfriend with his eyes widened in utter disbelief. “Um…hold on. We?” he asked. “Babe, are you sure about that? She just told us we are dealing with an ancient demon. Not Hawk Moth. A _demon_.”

“It’s in our best interest to help,” Alya retorted, her expression deadly serious. “Think about it. If we hold on to our miraculouses and just hide, and something happens to Ladybug and Chat Noir, what are the odds of us surviving on our own?”

Nino wiped his brow again, shivering at the thought. “I would say negative five percent.”

“Exactly,” Alya replied as she turned back to face Ladybug. “If you ask me, not doing anything is much more dangerous than helping you face this monster. Ladybug, you have my complete support. I will help you any way I can.”

The tears became harder to hold back as Ladybug clenched the railing of the balcony tightly. A certain weight lifted from her chest in response to Alya’s words, but the queasiness in her gut remained. A few tears leaked on to her mask which she promptly wiped away. Her lip trembled as she smiled and laid her hand on her best friend’s shoulder.

“Thank you,” she told her in a quiet voice as she lowered her head. “Thank you. I don’t deserve your help after putting you in danger, even if it was on accident. But I know that Chat and I are going to need it.”

She lifted her head and glanced at Nino, who was still looking at the Turtle Miraculous box with foreboding. “What about you? Are you sure you’re up for this?”

Nino straightened up and inhaled deeply. He briefly looked at Alya and then back at the box. He closed his eyes and pushed his glasses further up the bridge of his nose. When he opened them, his expression became resolute.

“I know my girl. I know she’s not going to be swayed from helping you fight this battle, no matter how much I’ll try to convince her otherwise.”

He placed a firm hand on Alya’s shoulder and looked her in the eye. “But if she thinks I am going to let her run off and do this insane thing without me, she’s got any thing coming. I’m trying not to freak the hell out right now, but I will fight for you Ladybug. At the very least, I will do it for her sake.” 

Ladybug smiled as she recalled the time Nino fought an akuma to save Alya with nothing but Chat Noir’s staff and pure audacity. “Thank you. I know now that I made the right decision trusting you with a miraculous.”

“But what happens now?” Alya asked. “Are we going to fight every time an akuma shows up? How do you want us to respond?”

Ladybug scratched her head as she pondered Alya’s question. “To be honest, I’m not sure. I don’t know when Shouwang will show up again and I don’t know for sure how Hawk Moth will react. I would say to hold back for now unless Chat Noir and I are overwhelmed. I don’t want Hawk Moth to know right away that there are more miraculouses out in the open.”

Her eyes suddenly widened as another thought occurred to her. “Which reminds me, please be extra careful from now on. Having a miraculous full time may seem like a great thing, but it means you have to protect your secret identity around the clock, even from your friends and family. It may literally mean the difference between life and death.”

Alya and Nino exchanged glances and nodded in agreement. The former replied, “You can count us Ladybug. We will do our best to keep our secret and be heroes you can count on.”

“I couldn’t ask for anything else,” Ladybug said as she swung her yo-yo to the building across the street. “I won’t waste any more of your time. Try to be calm and go back to whatever you were doing before I interrupted.”

The couple blushed as they recalled the unfortunate incident with the Césaire twins. Nino cleared his throat.

“Just out of curiosity, how much did you see before you knocked on the window?” he asked.

Ladybug’s face turned slightly red as she stood on the balcony railing, ready to head off. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“So…you didn’t see us running after her sisters trying to get the-?”

“NO IDEA WHAT YOU’RE TALKING ABOUT!” she interjected before swinging away and disappearing into the night.

The teenage couple watched as her image faded into the Parisian skyline. Nino rubbed the back of his neck and let out a breath.

“I think she saw it,” he concluded.

“I would normally be mortified right now,” Alya replied as she clutched her arms together and shivered, “but considering the situation I think that is the least of our concerns.”

Ψ

Jean André placed his recently dry-cleaned suit in his closet and yawned. It had been a long day. With classes not starting until September, his summer days were a constant back and forth trying to keep up with Chloé Bourgeois’s random and ever shifting demands. Just today she had again role played as Ladybug against an imaginary ice villain. It took some time for Jean to explain to her that he couldn’t just ship multiple tons of ice from Antarctica for said roleplay, although he was happy to see that her geography skills were improving. In the end, he managed to convince her to settle for whatever available ice they had in the hotel kitchen.

He turned around, nearly bumping into his bed for the umpteenth time. The small four by four space that he called his room barely had enough room to fit his dresser and bed. His mademoiselle’s closet was twice the size of his own bedroom. It was a reality that he had to face every day. Parisian apartments near the Grand Paris Hotel were not cheap, and he had to make do with what he had.

As he prepared to turn off the lights in his bedroom, he noticed a small light on in his kitchen.

_That’s odd,_ he thought, _I could have sworn I turned that off earlier._

He tiptoed down hallway in his pajamas, trying not to make the creaking sound on the old wooden floors that he frequently annoyed him. As he passed his bathroom, the tail of a black cat appeared in front of the kitchen entrance before disappearing again. Several meowing sounds soon followed. Jean André sighed and shook his head.

“Monsieur Fluffy,” he called to his cat, “now is not the time for a late-night snack. It is time for bed.”

He went into the kitchen and turned on the main light, only to be greeted with the sight of Chat Noir standing in the opposite corner, calmly eating a piece of cheesecake with Monsieur Fluffy walking around his feet and meowing. Jean clutched his chest and backed up against the wall, his heart nearly stopping from shock.

“ _Sacré bleu_!” he cried out. “Chat Noir?! What…what are you-?”

“Hmm, this cheesecake is delightful,” Chat replied, ignoring the obvious question. “Sorry for raiding your fridge. I’ve had a rough day. I can get you some more if you want.”

That was not Jean’s chief concern at the moment. “How did you get into my apartment?!” he asked, still struggling to breathe.

Chat shrugged. “The window. You have a great cat by the way. Some say black cats are bad luck, but I disagree for obvious reasons.”

Jean André rubbed his forehead and took a deep breath as the initial surprise wore off. “Yes, but _why_ are you in my apartment tonight eating my cheesecake?”

Chat raised a finger silently asking for his flabbergasted host to wait as he swallowed his food. He placed the plate on the counter and fetched the envelope from his pocket. His expression quickly became serious.

“I am here,” he explained as he handed Jean the miraculous package, “so you can give this to Chloé Bourgeois. It’s very important that she gets this envelope and that no one else knows that you have it.”

Jean André felt the envelope. He could tell there was paper inside, but there was clearly a solid object in there as well. His eyes widened in realization.

“Is this her miracul-?” he tried to ask before Chat motioned for him to be quiet.

“Yes,” the black cat answered quietly. “Take this to Grand Paris Hotel tomorrow. Walk in like it’s just a normal day at work. You must be discreet when you give it to her. It is imperative that Hawk Moth doesn’t know that Chloé has the bee miraculous. Can you do that for us? Chloé’s safety depends on it.”

The veteran butler stared at the message and object trusted into his care. After a brief moment of uncertainty, he straightened up and nodded.

“Yes, Chat Noir, you have my word,” he affirmed as his face hardened with sudden resolve. “I will give the envelope to Mademoiselle and make sure no villain is any wiser.”

“Thank you,” Chat told him as he again opened the window above the sink. As he prepared to make his exit, he suddenly snapped his fingers and turned back around. “Oh and make sure she follows _all_ of the instructions Ladybug left for her. I can’t tell you much, but this new villain we have is no joke. She has to be extremely careful with that.”

Jean André looked off to the side, his expression now somewhat uncertain. There were many terms he could use to describe his mademoiselle. “Extremely careful” was not one of them.

“I will…do my best,” he replied.

The feline superhero exited and closed the window before departing into the night. The apartment was suddenly quiet with only the dirty plate on the counter serving as evidence of Jean’s surprise visitor. He looked down at the envelope again and swallowed nervously. Due to his hectic day, he hadn’t seen much of the news. But the little he had briefly caught on the hotel lobby’s TV was certainly enough to alarm him.

_Chloé_ , he thought as he held the package close to his chest, _I hope you are ready for whatever is coming._

Ψ

Chat Noir arrived at the agreed meeting point at the top of the South Tower of Notre-Dame. This time Ladybug was waiting for him. She had been pacing back and forth, biting her fingers until he landed behind her. She then whirled around, clasping her hands together with a clear sense of urgency radiating from her eyes.

“Did you give the dog miraculous to Adrien?” she immediately asked.

“Of course, my lady,” he responded.

_And by that, I mean I stuffed it in the cabinet beneath my bathroom sink_ , he thought with a slight smirk on his face.

Ladybug rubbed her right arm with discomfort. “How…how did he react? Was he terrified? Does he hate me for all of this?”

Chat scratched the back of his neck and adeptly avoided his lady’s imploring gaze. “Um…he was certainly a bit freaked out,” he cautiously answered, “but he doesn’t hate you. He did say he didn’t intend to join our fight against Shouwang, but that he would keep the miraculous safe until this whole thing is over.”

His partner turned and walked a few steps away. Her head angled upward as she turned her gaze toward the full moon above them. Though the August air was still warm, she shuddered and hugged her shoulders.

“That’s a relief. I was worried he might try to join us and risk his life against Shouwang.”

Chat raised an eyebrow at that statement. He titled his head to the side and frowned. “So you’re okay with us and the other heroes fighting Shouwang, but not Adrien Agreste? Why is that?”

Some heat rushed to Ladybug’s face in response to her partner’s probing question. She continued facing away from Chat as she tried to consciously make her blush go away. She cleared her throat and cautiously looked over her shoulder, silently hoping he couldn’t see the growing redness in her cheeks at this time of night.

“It’s…nothing really,” she lied, “he just has much less experience than the others. I’m reluctant to let him fight against a monster like this when he’s not used to fighting.”

Chat scratched his chin and looked off to the side before slowly nodding in agreement. “Fair enough. We wouldn’t want him to get hurt.”

_Though it’s a bit too late for that_ , he privately noted as he touched the side of his hip where the demon’s fangs had struck a few hours ago.

The two stood apart for a while saying nothing. Chat fiddled with his baton for a few moments, feeling antsy. He waited for his partner to say something, but she merely hugged her arms close to her chest and remained facing away from him. As she stared up at the moon, he took a few cautious steps forward and cleared his throat.

“What about Rena Rouge and Carapace?” he asked as he scratched the back of his neck. “How did they handle it?”

“They are…very scared,” Ladybug quietly replied, “but they’re ready to help us. Despite the danger. Considering the circumstances, they handled it pretty well.”

She sat down at the edge of the tower and stared at the ground below. She put her elbows on her knees and rested her chin in her hands.

“Much better than I deserve,” she added with a sigh.

Chat sat down next to her and shook his head. “No. Come on. Don’t blame yourself. You had no idea that giving out those miraculouses would mean this. Even if Fu had his reasons, this mess is on him, not you.”

Her downcast expression and tone did not change as she muttered: “Thank you Chat.”

She then handed him a small piece of paper. Curious, he quickly opened it to find a single phrase: _tâchenoire15._

“What’s this?” he asked. “Some kind of code?”

Ladybug slightly tilted her head in Chat’s direction. “Are you aware of the new app that came out called _Anonyme_?”

“Vaguely,” he responded as he scratched his head, “isn’t that the one where you can send encrypted messages under a made-up username? Why do you ask?”

Ladybug sat up and took a deep breath. “Because in a half hour or so, that will be my username on the app.”

Chat stared at the paper in confusion for a brief second. In the following second, his eyes quickly widened with sudden understanding.

“You mean, this is how we…communicate? Out of costume?” he asked.

Ladybug nodded and stood up. “Correct. I am not comfortable with the idea of revealing my identity to you just yet with Hawk Moth around, but neither am I willing to put you or myself at unnecessary risk. This way we can contact each other in case of emergency, like Shouwang stalking us for example. Pick a username that clearly identifies you to me without being obvious.”

Chat saluted his lady with sudden excitement as he eagerly clutched the paper in his hand. “You got it!”

“And by obvious, I mean nothing blatant like ‘I am the cat’s meow’ or anything stupid like that,” she clarified with a harsh stare.

He stood up and bowed towards her. “Understood. I will be sure to pick something only my lady would know.”

“And by emergencies, I mean emergencies only,” she explained as she poked his chest, “not something you can use just to flirt with me or because you’re bored.”

Chat expanded his baton and leaned on it while scratching his chin. “So…I guess this means no cat gifs?” he asked.

Ladybug’s eyes narrowed in annoyance. “Especially no cat gifs.”

_Damn it._ Adrien thought as his superhero persona forced a smile. _Well it was worth a shot. Still, the ability to communicate with an unmasked Ladybug is incredible. I only wish it wasn’t a ravenous demon that allowed me to get to this point._

The black cat hero reluctantly nodded. He held up his hand as a sign of his sincerity: “I understand. Emergencies only.”

The two stood apart for several moments, saying nothing. Ladybug glanced over her shoulder, avoiding eye contact with her partner. She twirled her yo-yo in her hand, preparing to set off.

“Well I better get going. I need my sleep,” she said as she wandered to the edge of the South Tower, “assuming I will be able to sleep tonight.”

“My Lady,” Chat said as he took a few steps toward her.

As Ladybug turned around, she suddenly felt her partner wrap his arms around her. He held her close to his chest. Her eyes widened and a slight blush appeared on her face.

“We’ll get through this,” he assured her, “I don’t know how, but we will.”

Ladybug choked back a sob and nodded her head. “Thank you. I really hope that you’re right.”

Slowly and reluctantly Chat removed his arms from his partner. Ladybug gave him a half-smile and took his hand in hers. She briefly squeezed it before separating and walking to the edge of the tower.

“Stay safe,” she told him as she swung her yo-yo and prepared to leave.

“Likewise,” he replied with a smile.

Marinette could not recall any details of the journey back home. Her body moved mechanically through the Parisian night. She briefly looked down at a city that had no idea the horror that awaited them. Before she knew it, she arrived at her balcony and slipped through the roof entrance to collapse on her bed. She quietly moaned as she released her transformation and returned to her civilian appearance. Tikki clutched on to her for dear life, whispering words of encouragement into her ear.

She downloaded the _Anonyme_ app and made her account with the username she had already shared with Chat. For the next ten minutes she stared at the ceiling, not moving and barely responding to any remark from Tikki. Then, after a long moment of silence, her phone lit up with a notification from the newly downloaded app. It read that the user _gardezlarose_ wanted to connect with her.

“‘Keep the rose?’” Marinette asked as her brow furrowed in confusion. “Is that what Chat picked?”

“It’s not cat-related, which I suppose is a good thing” Tikki observed, “is there anything you’ve done together that reminds you of the name he picked?”

At first, she shook her head, unable to think of any moment with Chat that applied to that username. Then her eyes widened, and she let out a slight gasp. A slight blush appeared on her face as she remembered their encounter after their fight with Glaciator. At that time, Ladybug was forced to tell him that she couldn’t return his feelings because someone else had captured her heart. While his face clearly displayed disappointment, he had departed with an assurance that her friendship meant everything to him. His final sentence then replayed in her head as he laid a slight kiss on her cheek.

_You can keep the rose_. _It goes with your costume._

Almost subconsciously, Marinette’s eyes wandered to the bulletin board above her computer. Beneath the multiple photos of Adrien hung the rose that Chat had given her. It was now very much dead, having wilted long ago. Yet every time she looked at the gift and thought about throwing it away, a part of her hesitated. She had told herself that she would toss it at some point, but that ‘some point’ never came.

She smiled as she accepted Chat’s request and pulled the covers up to her neck. Her peaceful look remained as her body began to give in to exhaustion. One last conscious thought resonated in her mind before she succumbed to sleep.

_Well done Chat,_ she thought, _well done._


	5. Not Our First Paris

** 5 **

**Not Our First Paris**

_The right man in the wrong place can make all the difference in the world._

The G-Man- _Half-Life 2_

Only sheer physical and mental exhaustion could explain Marinette’s deep sleep that night. As she blinked her eyes to see the sunlight stream through her windows, she briefly stretched and closed her eyes, intending to sleep a little longer. Then her eyes shot open, her heart rate skyrocketed, and she sat up in bed. The memories of the previous day crashed upon her like a tidal wave. She placed her palm on her forehead as she recounted the insane events and new information that had completely turned her life upside down. She shivered and wrapped herself tightly in her blanket.

Tikki floated up to greet her. The smile on the kwami’s face appeared forced as she said, “Good morning.”

Marinette rubbed her forehead and groaned. “Tikki, is there any possible way yesterday was just some terrible nightmare?”

Her kwami’s fake smile immediately shattered. “I’m afraid not. It was very real. Shouwang has returned.”

Marinette’s mind passed through the rest of the morning and most of the afternoon in a seemingly endless fog. Her body went on autopilot as she got up, took a shower, and had breakfast with her parents. Though she understandably wasn’t very hungry, she forced herself to eat and drank her orange juice, unable to enjoy the flavor at all. More than once she stared off into space, failing to realize that her parents were attempting to talk to her until they repeated her name a few times. That trend continued as she helped them in the bakery. Often, she would have to be asked more than once to complete a task. At one point, Tom dropped an empty platter on the floor by accident. The loud unexpected sound made her heart suddenly stop as she momentarily became seized with panic. She was still breathing heavily as her mother laid a caring hand on her shoulder.

“Are you okay dear? You’ve been awfully jumpy today,” Sabine asked.

“Oh I’m…fine,” Marinette answered as she rubbed the back of her head. “I just have a lot on my mind. Sorry for spacing out so much.”

Tom emerged from the back kitchen, muttering an apology over dropping the platter. Upon seeing his wife’s clear look of concern, M. Dupain frowned and turned his attention to Marinette. He too had noticed her withdrawn expression and nervous behavior throughout the morning. She had helped them out without complaint, but at several points she had appeared distracted and when confronted, she would mostly avoid eye contact with them. Even now as she withdrew from Sabine and dutifully pulled some croissants from the oven, Tom could see the uneasiness in her expression. He didn’t need a degree in psychology to know that something was off with his daughter.

He went to the front door of the bakery and locked it while putting up a sign that they were temporarily closed. He then turned back around and pointed upstairs.

“Alright, it’s been a really slow day today,” he said, “why don’t we go upstairs and have lunch?”

Marinette followed her parents upstairs and reluctantly tried to eat as her mind remained a chaotic, semi-panicked mess. She ate even less than she did at breakfast and stared at the rest of her food in disinterest. She was vaguely aware of the expression of alarm shared between her parents but did not react to it. Her mother recommended that she take the rest of the afternoon off. She didn’t argue and spent a good chunk of the afternoon glued to the couch as she watched TV.

Against her better judgment, Marinette switched to the news. As she feared, most of the local top stories involved their frightening encounter with Shouwang. The boy who had been akumatized as Heavyweight was interviewed. Wrapped in a shock blanket, the young man recounted in horrifying detail what it was like to witness the monster up close. Even worse, all of Paris and beyond was shown recordings of their heroes cowering and quite possibly peeing themselves in the face of this terrifying humanoid abomination. Marinette covered her face with one of the pillows on the couc

_Great,_ she thought, _now everyone knows that we are completely unprepared for this enemy._

She remained in that depressed stupor for a long time, watching helplessly as the media pondered whether or not their heroes could face this new challenge. While she listened to these growing voices of doubt, she occasionally checked her phone. There wasn’t much going on that didn’t have to do with the main story on the news. She did get some texts from Alya but barely paid attention to them. It seemed her best friend was angry with an English translator for her blog for some reason, but Marinette only skimmed over the details. An hour or so later, her father reentered their apartment. He wiped his brow and got himself a glass of water. He sat next to her daughter on the couch and stretched.

“Well, I think that’s enough for today,” he declared as he placed his feet on the ottoman.

“It’s still midafternoon. The bakery shouldn’t be closed for another few hours,” Marinette replied.

“Your mother and I decided to close early. We’ve been really slow today. Not many people are wandering in the streets in this heat."

“Then feel free to watch this depressing crap with me,” she told him as she leaned her head back on the couch.

“I have a better idea,” her dad said as he reached for the remote and turned the TV off, “why don’t you come with me to visit a new bakery that just opened?”

Marinette smirked and tilted her head towards her dad. “Scouting out the competition papa?”

Her father shook his head. “No, no, it’s not like that. They don’t sell anything we do, so I wouldn’t classify them as competition?”

“So…what? Is it a foreign bakery?”

“Correct,” Tom answered as he stood up and stretched his arms out. “Remember when we thought we were going to move to the United States and open a bakery in New York?”

Marinette slowly nodded. “Yeah. For the fashion industry offer from Chloe’s mom. I remember.”

“Well, this is an American family that has moved to Paris to open a bakery here,” Tom explained, “I met the owner Duke Jameson at an international baking competition in Paris last year. Great man. He barely speaks any French though.”

“Then how are we supposed to talk to them?” Marinette asked as she stared out the window, “I had decently good grades in my English classes but I’m not sure I can hold a conversation.”

“That won’t be a problem,” her father assured her with a wave of his hand. “His wife is fluent and apparently their son has also mastered the language. He happens to be around your age. I thought it would be nice for you to meet them."

Marinette remained motionless on the couch. She continued staring out the window, apparently uninterested in the idea. Her head turned in the direction of the remote, but her father had other ideas. He placed it out of immediate reach on the coffee table.

“Come on,” he urged as he placed his hands on his hips, “you’ve watched enough bad news. I think some time outside the home might do you some good.”

Marinette briefly sighed in resignation and stared up at the ceiling. _I guess I have nothing better to do_ , she thought.

With some reluctance she got off the couch and followed her father downstairs and out of the bakery. She brought her purse with her as well with Tikki hidden inside. The midafternoon streets of Paris were mostly empty, and it didn’t take Marinette long to figure out why. The August sun radiated intensely in the cloudless sky, baking the city below in constant heat. The walk to this new American bakery lasted only eight minutes or so, but she could already feel some sweat on her neck and brow by minute four. When they reached their destination, she was relieved to walk into the building’s shadow and avoid the direct reach of the sun.

The bakery was located at the intersection of two cross streets in a relatively quiet neighborhood some distance away from the main avenues of Paris. To the right of the bakery Marinette could see a halal grocery store with Arabic script on the front entrance. Across the street was a small bookstore, a coffee shop, and a Chinese restaurant. Other than that, the area appeared to be mostly residential. Outside the bakery itself two small flags hung at the top of the front entrance. One was the American flag and the other was one she did not recognize. It was red, white, and blue like its counterpart, but it had only white star in a field of dark blue with a large band of white on top of a red one. Below the flags the main entrance displayed the bakery’s name in gold English lettering: _The Southern Market_.

Marinette followed her father inside the front entrance, grateful for the obvious presence of air conditioning. She was immediately greeted with a strange, yet somehow alluring cacophony of smells from the two display cases of baked goods behind a few tables and chairs for the as of yet nonexistent customers. Being a baker’s daughter, she was quite familiar with the smell of croissants, macaroons, and other French treats. Yet while the baked goods back home always seemed to complement each other nicely, the mixed American confections before her was a confusing blend of different aromas piled on top of each other. Her nose detected a myriad of different flavors ranging from sickly sweet and fruity to nutty and buttery. Her sense of smell also picked up a fair amount of sugar. Lots and lots of sugar to be exact. So much sugar, in fact, that she could feel Tikki twitching in her purse with excitement.

Filled with sudden curiosity, she walked across the white tiled floor to the nearest display case, peering at the desserts and baked goods inside. There were the American staples she expected like donuts, apple pies, and chocolate chip cookies, but she also saw many others that she didn’t recognize. Each treat was labelled in English with a French translation or at least a close French approximation underneath it. Using said translations as her guide, Marinette visually acquainted herself with a variety of U.S. desserts and baked goods such as pecan pie, key lime pie, Southern cornbread, peach cobbler, Texas sheet cake, buttermilk biscuits, bread pudding, and many others. She also noticed several round pastries filled with several types of fruit filling. The label in front of them read “Kolaches” and there were several small Czech flags surrounding them. To the left of these kolaches at the very end of the display case was a circular cake colored in multiple bands of yellow, green, and purple. A pile of beads and a few miniature Carnival masks around this pastry identified it as a _Louisiana_ _King Cake_. 

The sound of footsteps near the door behind the register prompted Marinette to turn her head. A woman who appeared to be either in her early fifties or late forties emerged from the back kitchen. She possessed shoulder-length black hair that was curled on its ends and a green apron that read _ARMY STRONG._ On said apron was a single button that matched the single star red, white, and blue flag Marinette had seen outside the store. Her mascara and overall makeup were impeccably done and as her hands touched the counter next to the register, the young Parisian also noted that her nails had clearly been manicured by a professional. Her clear blue eyes widened, and a broad smile appeared on her face to greet the bakery’s new arrivals. She opened her mouth and addressed the two in flawless French, though there was a noticeable accent and an odd slow vowel accentuation in her voice.

“ _Bonjour_ ,” she began before motioning to the pastries in their store, “Welcome to the _Southern Market._ Is there anything that specific that you’re looking for?”

At that point, her father stepped forward and cleared his throat. “Actually, I’m here to see Duke, though I wouldn’t mind taking some donuts home. My name is Tom Dupain. I met him last year at the competition.”

The smile on the woman’s face grew wider in pleasant surprise. “Oh, so you’re Tom. I’m Beverly, his wife. He’s told me so much about you. Hold on, I’ll go and get him for you. Hopefully he’s done smoking the meats.”

Marinette raised an eyebrow as Mrs. Jameson disappeared back into the kitchen. _Smoking the meats?_ her mind wondered, _I thought this was a bakery._

Before she could get an answer to her question, a hearty laugh resounded behind the double doors leading to the kitchen. A few seconds later, a man with a matching _ARMY STRONG_ apron emerged from the back and immediately made his way to M. Dupain. He was slightly taller than his wife with matching black hair around the sides of his head and a large bald spot on top of his scalp. He possessed thick muscular arms and a considerably large gut that strained against the apron tied against his waist. The American baker let out a hearty, infectious laugh that filled the space of the bakery. He briefly wrapped Marinette’s father in a strong embrace before separating and then slapping his shoulder. When he spoke, his French was heavily accented and almost unintelligible to her ears.

“Welcome…my friend,” he greeted him before switching to English, “ _Long time no see_ ….good…see you again.”

Tom laughed and returned an affectionate pat on the man’s shoulder. “I see your French has improved a bit,” he remarked.

“Your English…worse,” Duke managed, prompting another laugh from M. Dupain and a slight chuckle from Marinette as well.

“That’s fair,” Tom responded as he looked around the room, “I have to say, I’m impressed on how your store turned out. You’ve done a lot in such a short period of time.”

“Papa, you should probably speak slower and in shorter sentences,” Marinette suggested.

Mr. Jameson dismissed the concern with a wave of his hand. “Can understand French okay. Speaking still hard. You are…his daughter?”

Marinette nodded and shook the man’s hand. “Yes. My name is Marinette Dupain-Cheng. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“Duke Jameson,” the baker replied. “Nice to meet you. Have son…your age.”

The man turned to his wife and switched back to his native tongue. “ _Speaking of which, where is our boy Zeke?_ ”

“ _Still walking Maggie dear_ ,” she informed him. She approached her guests with a plate of the round fruit-filled pastries Marinette had seen earlier. “Here, have a kolache. They’re on the house.”

“That’s very kind of you,” Tom replied as he grabbed a pastry, “but I feel like we should be supporting your business, especially after you took the time to move half a world away to open it.”

Mrs. Jameson politely shook her head. “No Tom, we insist. We’re from the American South, a region of the country where hospitality is taken very seriously. As far as I’m concerned, you are our guests, not just customers. Besides, your advice on how to open a business in France helped make this possible.”

Marinette accepted the offer and selected a kolache. She took a bite…and her mouth was transported to paradise. The American treat was doughy, buttery, and had a rich strawberry filling that instantly excited her taste buds. For a brief moment, she forgot the newfound danger in her life as she enjoyed the rest of the pastry.

She swallowed and quickly expressed her gratitude. “Thank you, Mme. Jameson. That kolache was delicious. But I noticed a lot of Czech flags around them earlier. Is it not originally from the United States?”

“No, it isn’t,” the woman replied, “it was brought to our state of Texas by Czech immigrants in the 19th century and has been popular there ever since. I’m partially descended from those immigrants myself.”

Tom inhaled his kolache and looked around the bakery. “Have you had much luck with customers yet?”

The smile on Beverly Jameson’s face soured somewhat. “We’ve had a few curious locals come in and buy things,” she replied with a sigh, “but so far we haven’t had enough sustained business to-”

The rest of her sentence was cut off by a sudden explosion of high-pitched barking coming from the direction of the kitchen. The voice of a young man could be heard yelling in protest as the sound of four legging scurrying quickly drew closer to them.

“ _MAGGIE! Get your furry butt back here!”_ the young man cried out.

A split second later a medium-sized dog burst through the kitchen door and instantly charged Marinette and her father. She was light brown in color and possessed a thick, curly fur. She briefly slid on the white tile floor before getting up and barking like a maniac as she approached Tom and jumped on his legs in uncontrolled excitement. A blue leash followed behind her with no human at its end. The dog then turned her attention to Marinette, sniffing her and her purse which she quickly tried to move out of the animal’s reach.

A teenage boy quickly followed behind, panting and grumbling under his breath as he moved forward to take control of the dog’s leash. Duke laughed and Beverly shook her head in disapproval as he drew closer to Marinette and her father.

“ _Zeke, what have we told you about letting Maggie into the store area?”_ Beverly asked in her native tongue.

“ _I’m sorry mom,_ ” he replied, “ _I was washing my hands in the kitchen sink after disposing of Maggie’s…you know, and had the leash tucked under my armpit. She heard the customers and escaped.”_

With their thick regional American accents, Marinette couldn’t easily understand what they were saying. But the visual comedy of watching the boy try to hold back the hyperactive dog while simultaneously being lectured by his parents was enough to make her laugh. She briefly petted the animal, who responded to her kindness by attempting to sniff her backside in a rather invasive manner. When she yelped in protest, the American teenager forcibly pulled the dog back by the leash.

“Hey, what did I tell you about sniffing strangers’ butts?” the young man asked in heavily accented, though grammatically correct French.

The dog whined and scurried with her front legs in the direction of the bakery’s guests. But the adolescent’s grip on the leash remained firm.

“No Maggie,” he told her, “the fact that you are a female dog doesn’t make that any less inappropriate.”

Marinette laughed at the scene and looked up at Zeke. For a brief moment her mouth dropped, and her eyes lit up with surprise. With a few notable exceptions, the American youth was almost a perfect match to Adrien Agreste. He was around the same height and possessed the same wavy and slightly wild hair style of her crush. His facial features and chin also resembled the boy she had come to associate with perfection. The major divergence between the two came in his eye color and hair, which were solid brown and black, respectively. He was also slightly more muscular than Adrien, with thicker arms and shoulders. But the thing that most sparked her curiosity were the three small parallel scars found that could be seen next to his right eyebrow.

The young man quickly noticed that he was being stared at and immediately looked away in discomfort. “Uh. Is there something wrong?”

His face quickly lit up with horror as another thought occurred to him. “ _Oh my God_ , did I say something wrong? If I accidentally said something inappropriate, I’m really, really sorry. I still mess up my French sometimes.”

Marinette unglued her tongue from the roof of her mouth and snapped out of her shock. “No, you didn’t. I’m sorry, you just look like someone I know.”

“Yes, you resemble a close friend of hers,” Tom said with a smile and a knowing tone that she did not appreciate.

“Well, I would be happy to also be a close friend,” he responded as he extended his hand. “Zeke Jameson. Nice to meet you.”

She reached out and shook his hand. “Marinette Dupain-Cheng. Likewise.”

“Sorry about Maggie,” the young man apologized as he scratched the back of his neck. “She’s a Wheaton terrier. They’re a very hyperactive breed that has little sense of personal space.”

“It’s fine,” Marinette replied before moving her bag out of Maggie’s reach. The canine barked a few times before Zeke pulled her back.

“Though I’m not sure why she’s so obsessed with your purse,” he said as he scratched his head.

A bead of nervous sweat trickled down her face as she tried to laugh it off. “Oh well, who knows?” she replied as she shifted the purse and Tikki towards her back.

Marinette cleared her throat and looked around the room, eager for a change of subject. Her eyes landed on two wooden shapes hung up on the wall close to Mrs. Jameson. One appeared familiar, with strange jagged and elongated edges that appeared similar to a macaron that had gone horrible wrong. The second shape appeared more like a long rectangle with bumpy edges on its eastern and western boundaries.

“That carving up there, is that Texas?” Marinette, asked, pointing to the first one.

“Correct,” Mrs. Jameson answered. “That’s my home state. The single star flag out front also represents Texas.”

“And what about the other one?”

“That’s Tennessee,” Zeke replied as he pulled Maggie closer to the register, much to the dog’s displeasure, “that’s the state where my dad and I were born.”

Marinette tapped her chin with sudden curiosity. “So, _The Southern Market. South_ means _sud_ , right?”

Zeke nodded his head. “Yes, Texas and Tennessee are both in the Southeastern United States. That’s where the name comes from.”

“That’s so interesting. I hope you’re enjoying Paris, even if it’s very far away from your original home.”

“Best Paris…we ever been,” Mr. Jameson declared with a smile.

Tom and Marinette looked at each other in confusion. Both assumed that the American baker had screwed up on his rather limited French.

“I’m sorry, what do you mean by the ‘best Paris’?” she cautiously asked.

Zeke groaned and rolled his eyes. “My dad is trying to be clever. There are two towns in Texas and Tennessee that are both named Paris in honor of this city. We’ve lived in one and visited the other…that’s why he’s saying this city is the best ‘Paris’ out of the other two we’ve been to.”

“Well, that makes a lot more sense,” Tom remarked with a laugh.

Zeke’s attention was stolen away by a sudden buzzing in his pocket. He checked his phone and his face immediately soured. He dragged Maggie towards the kitchen in a huff. A few choice words in English were muttered under his breath.

“Ezzy, language,” his mother warned.

“I’m sorry,” he said as he opened the kitchen door. “Alya’s just been grilling me nonstop since I posted that video.”

M.Dupain and Marinette’s eyes widened at the same time. They briefly exchanged glances of surprise. Even Tikki seemed somewhat shocked. A slight noise emanated from her purse which she quickly muffled with her hand. Fortunately, the Jamesons didn’t seem to notice.

“She asked you not to add your commentary on the video,” Mrs. Jameson reminded him.

“ _To heck with that,_ ” Zeke replied as he propped open the kitchen door. “She asked me to respond to an akuma attack at the last minute for her Ladyblog and keep my mouth shut at the same time without any explanation? No thanks, she can deal with it.”

As Zeke disappeared into the kitchen with Maggie, Marinette’s mind quickly raced with its inevitable conclusion. _No way. He’s the English translator Alya was complaining about?_

Once the American teenager was gone, Beverly Jameson made a slight bow and said, “Forgive my son’s behavior. He’s a major fan of Ladybug and Chat Noir and he’s still upset that he didn’t get the chance to film the new villain appearance yesterday.”

A loud groan could be heard near the kitchen entrance. “Thank you for the reminder Mom!”

Marinette forced a smile as she tried to block out the memories of her encounter with Shouwang yesterday. _Yes,_ her mind agreed, _thank you so much for the reminder._

Tom, ignorant of her daughter’s growing discomfort, took a few steps forward and looked at the bakery. He put his hands on his hips in a posture of approval.

“I have to say I’m impressed Duke,” he declared as he locked eyes with Mr. Jameson. “I’m surprised you could afford a space like this.”

“We wouldn’t have been able to afford it, without some help from Hawk Moth,” Mrs. Jameson explained.

Marinette nearly gagged on her own saliva at the mention of her secret archenemy. Tom’s mouth hung open, looking at his hosts in utter disbelief. Beverly quickly held up her hands to pacify their concerns.

“Let me be clear,” she said, “we want Paris to be free of that menace. But his frequent attacks have driven the rent price down in the center areas of Paris. Without that, I doubt we could have been able to get such a prime location to start our business.”

Marinette stared at the floor for a minute as she absorbed this information. After thinking over the matter, she had to admit that the foreigners had a point. The two-year conflict she and Chat Noir had fought against Hawk Moth had certainly exhausted and annoyed many Parisians. While they had been able to counter the akumas every time, they had not been able to stop the supervillain plaguing the city. Many Parisian business owners and residents, tired of the constant disruption and stalemate, had packed up and moved to the suburbs or to different cities in France. The drop in real estate and rent price had been taken advantage of by a growing group of risk takers that were not afraid to weather akumatizations in exchange for the beneficial location and potential profit. She had only just met the Jamesons, but their carefree demeanor while mentioning Hawk Moth let her know that they were not likely to be scared easily and were more than willing to seize precious real estate in Paris, regardless of the akuma threat.

As Zeke’s footsteps signaled his approach from the kitchen, his mother asked him to bring a pitcher of tea for their guests. A brief _Yes Ma’am_ was heard, shortly followed by some shuffling and the distinctive sound of glass clanking against metal. Zeke then emerged carrying a platter with several empty glasses and a large pitcher of iced tea that contained a few lemons inside.

He approached their Parisian guests and cleared his throat. “At the risk of sounding extremely stereotypical, _y’all want some of our sweet tea_?” he asked in an exaggerated form of his native accent.

Marinette chuckled at the slightly self-deprecating joke while her father assisted in holding the platter while the American teenager poured out two glasses. Parched from being out in the heat for nearly ten minutes, she eagerly accepted the drink. Although she was more or less aware of the English word _sweet_ and its meaning, she was still surprised when she took the first sip. Her taste buds, expecting merely iced black tea, were momentarily shocked by the sugary rush of liquid decadence that touched her tongue. It was undeniably sweeter than most beverages she was used to, yet somehow still refreshing and flavorful.

She stared at the drink with a strange curiosity. “This is…interesting.”

“We don’t call it sweet tea for nothing,” Zeke replied.

“She seems to like it,” his mother remarked, “maybe you could bring some for your fellow students after orientation.”

The smile on his face quickly disappeared. His face turned red and he gave his parents a look of embarrassed horror. “What? No. I already told you I don’t want to do that.”

“But there’s a cultural portion at the end,” Mrs. Jameson reminded him a smile.

“An optional cultural portion,” he replied. “There will be plenty of Americans at this school. I don’t need to fulfill any stereotypes by announcing, _Howdy. Y’all want some of my momma’s sweet tea and cornbread biscuits? Heck, I can throw in some of my dad’s ribs if y’all want_.”

Mr. Jameson suddenly snapped his fingers and turned his eyes towards the kitchen. “ _That reminds me. Time to take the pork out of the smoker_.”

The American baker took his leave and quickly disappeared into the kitchen. Tom returned the platter and drank some of his sweet tea. He smiled and nodded his head in approval.

“I like it. Definitely sweet, but not too much to overwhelm the tea flavor. Thank you for sharing this with us Beverly.”

“I’m glad you like it. That specific recipe has been in our family for generations” Mrs. Jameson replied before glancing at Zeke, “now if only I could convince my son to bring some of it with him for his school’s orientation.”

Zeke, still facing Marinette and Tom, audibly groaned. The pupils of his eyes darted upwards in annoyance. Beverly lowered her eyebrows and put her hands on her hips. She loudly cleared her throat and her son’s expression quickly became decidedly more nervous.

“I certainly hope you haven’t forgotten never to roll your eyes at me _young man_ ,” she warned him in an increasingly stern tone. She folded her arms over her chest. “And I certainly hope you wouldn’t think of doing that in front of guests.”

The Jameson teenager anxiously swallowed. “ _No ma’am, I haven’t forgotten_ ,” he answered in a subdued voice.

_Yikes_ , Marinette thought as she looked to the side and quietly finished her sweet tea, _his mom does not play around._

Tom likewise looked awkwardly to the side before turning back to Zeke. He scratched his chin for a moment and reluctantly broke the silence. “So…are you excited to start school here in September?”

Zeke, apparently eager for the change of subject, quickly seized on the question. “ _Yes sir_ , I…I mean _oui monsieur_ ,” he stammered as he noticeably cringed from his language error, “I am really excited. But this is a major step for me. I’ve never done anything like this before, and I’m not going to know anyone at Lycée International Jane Vialle.”

The eyes of the two French visitors suddenly widened in surprise. Marinette briefly lost control of her glass and was barely able to grab it again before it fell and shattered on the floor. She then sheepishly placed it back on the platter Zeke was holding.

“Sorry about that,” Marinette apologized as she rubbed her left arm, “what you said caught me off guard.”

“Why?” Zeke asked as he put the platter back on the counter. “Is there something wrong with that school?”

“No,” Tom answered before giving a knowing glance in her daughter’s direction. “But you’ve already met your first fellow classmate there.”

Zeke furrowed his eyebrows in confusion for a moment. He then turned to Marinette and his eyes suddenly widened in understanding. She gave him an awkward smile and shrug, confirming his sudden revelation. His face instantly lit up with excitement.

“You’re going to be a student there?” he asked.

“Yes,” she answered. “My Collège Françoise Dupont has funneled a lot of its former students to that lycée. I can introduce you to some of them if you’d like.”

The American’s face and shoulders suddenly relaxed as an expression of general relief appeared on his face. “That…that would be amazing,” he admitted as he averted her gaze for a moment and scratched the back of his head. “I knew two thirds of the lycée would be native French students, but I didn’t think I would actually run into one before I went to class. I would appreciate it if you would introduce me to your friends. This is a…new environment for me.”

Sensing his discomfort, Marinette nodded and smiled. “It’s okay,” she said, “I’m sure it’s not easy to start school here. If I were a new student in the United States, I would also want some help from local students.”

Mr. Jameson remerged from the kitchen, carrying a platter with a large, blackened pork shoulder fresh from the smoker. A strong, intoxicating meat smell instantly filled the air. He placed it on an empty part of the counter and after putting on some gloves, slowly broke apart the outer bark of the meat, revealing the tender meat beneath. A puff of smoke filled the air and the powerful aroma instantly made Marinette’s mouth water. She had never been a vegetarian, but ever since becoming Ladybug she had tried to limit her diet to the leaner protein options of chicken and fish. This sweet smelling American smoked meat was quickly making her rethink that policy.

“I thought you were a baker, not a butcher,” Tom observed.

“He is,” Beverly replied. “But every other week he goes back to his barbecue roots and makes ribs or pulled pork for both the customers and us.”

She sighed as she observed her husband shred the block of pork. “I didn’t want to spend the money to get a smoker over here, but he insisted.”

Duke looked up from his work and announced, “You…take some home.”

Tom waved his hands in front of him to indicate his refusal. “Oh no, we couldn’t. We’ve taken enough free stuff from you.”

“Nonsense,” Beverly answered as she loaded a half dozen donuts in a container for them, “we insist.”

“We really need to support your business though,” he countered.

“You can do that by telling your friends and family about us.”

“Still, I must pay for something. It wouldn’t be right.”

Mrs. Jameson didn’t budge as she handed the package of donuts to Tom. “Don’t worry about it. It’s on us.”

Tom continued to protest as Mrs. Jameson kept trying to hand off the treats to him without charge. He was forced to redouble his efforts as Mr. Jameson tried to give him some pulled pork on the house as well. Both sides politely went back and forth, trying to convince the other to yield. Zeke walked closer to Marinette and shook his head.

Leaning closer to her, he whispered, “Knowing my parents, this is going to take a while.”

Marinette couldn’t help but laugh in agreement. When she finished laughing, she exhaled and subconsciously relaxed her shoulders. She hadn’t expected much from the visit, but she silently thanked her father for encouraging her to come along. As she watched her father continue to debate with this strange yet charming American family, she could almost forget the danger she was in.

Ψ

After Zeke and Marinette exchanged contact information, Tom and Beverly finally ended their polite argument to come to a compromise. The donuts would be paid for. However, the pulled pork was apparently non-negotiable, partially because Mr. Jameson didn’t have the French language skills to negotiate in the first place. Reluctantly Tom obliged and father and daughter said their goodbyes and prepared to leave. But Mrs. Jameson insisted on one last act of hospitality by giving them two sweet teas to go before walking back home in the heat (again, Tom’s objections went unheeded). After returning home Sabine immediately lectured her husband on taking too much free food from a new business. Marinette quickly ascended the stairs to her room as her father tried to plead his innocence.

Once upstairs, she closed her trap door and put the sweet tea on her desk near her computer. She then opened her purse and let her kwami fly out.

“Sorry about that Tikki,” she apologized as she rubbed the back of her neck, “I had no idea they would have a dog.”

The red floating bug shuddered. “That dog was way too close for comfort. I thought he was about to take a bite of me!”

“How would Maggie know you were in there?” Marinette asked. “Could she smell you?”

Tikki shook her head. “Kwamis don’t have a scent. An animal shouldn’t be able to smell me out. Maybe it was the cotton T-shirt you had sewn into the bag.”

The kwami turned her head and eyed the half-finished cup of sweet tea. Her antennae perked up with sudden interest. She turned her head back to her chosen, her eyes full of excitement.

Marinette sighed and nodded. “Go ahead. I know you’re dying to try it.”

Tikki instantly zipped over to the beverage. Somehow, she was able fit her tiny mouth over the straw. Her face lit up as she took a sip. She ended up doing a few flips in the air as the sugar rush invigorated her. Marinette sat down on her chaise longue and watched in mild amusement. Her kwami took another sip and hummed a tune to herself.

“You enjoyed it then,” her chosen easily surmised.

“It has _so much_ sugar!” Tikki announced with delight. “It gives me an instant energy boost. And I could tell that the other desserts in there also were so sweet. Oh, I wish I could smell that heavenly aroma again!”

“Assuming Maggie isn’t there to give you a hard time,” Marinette reminded her.

“True. There is a potential downside, not to mention the risk of being discovered. Also, I would be listening to their very strange English again.”

She then giggled slightly. “Though their conversations were funny.”

Marinette leaned forward slightly on the chaise longue. “You could understand them? You speak English?”

“Of course!” Tikki affirmed as she flew close to her shoulder. “We kwamis speak the language of every chosen we’ve ever had. Elizabeth was British, and that was only a little over a hundred years ago, so of course I know how to speak it. Though the way they spoke English was odd and…rustic? Some weird vowel sounds and also pretty loud.”

Marinette’s eyebrows furrowed in thought. She briefly stared out the window and then looked back at her kwami.

“So, does this mean you still speak really old languages like Ancient Egyptian?”

Tikki paused for a moment. She tapped her chin with her tiny hand as she contemplated the question. “Hmm, probably. But it’s been thousands of years. Even kwamis can lose memory over that period of time. I doubt I could do much more than order food at the market. Not that it matters at this point in time.”

Without warning Marinette’s phone went off, vibrating violently. Said phone had been placed in her purse which was itself lying on the floor next to the chaise longue. The vibration sound resonating against the hardwood floor made an abnormally loud buzzing noise as if an insect beast was ready to claw out of the floor. Ordinarily this would have given the young Parisian only a minor jolt of surprise. But these were not ordinary times. Marinette let out a choked cry of shock before nearly falling off her chair in sudden alarm. All at once her dread, which had been kept at bay for a few hours, came thundering back. Even after a few seconds, knowing full well that it was just her phone, she still found herself struggling to take calming breaths.

“Are you okay?” Tikki asked as she flew in front of her face.

“Yes…just…I don’t like these sudden…sounds.”

“That’s understandable,” her kwami assured her. “Just try to breathe. He’s not here. If he was, I would have sensed him.”

Marinette nodded and laid down on the longue, attempting to compose herself. Eventually the buzzing stopped. She knew she should probably return the call, but her accelerated heartrate convinced her to wait a few moments. After a few minutes of silence, she finally reached into her purse to retrieve her phone. She saw a missed FaceTime call from Alya and clicked to reply.

After a few moments, the image of her best friend manifested on screen. She appeared to be standing in her walk-in closet, surrounded by dresses and other outfits on her left and a small arsenal of various shoes on her right. Alya immediately smiled and waved a greeting.

“Hey girl, I was wondering when you would answer me,” she remarked. Her expression slightly soured when she did a quick survey of Marinette’s face. “Is…everything okay? You don’t look so good.”

“I’m fine,” she lied. “Just feeling a little under the weather.”

“If you need me to call back another time-”

“I’m fine,” Marinette insisted, forcing herself to look a little more cheerful.

“If you say so,” Alya replied before showing two bikinis resting on hangars. One was a solid burnt orange color while the other one was darker green and strapless.

“I need your opinion,” she explained, pointing to the two options. “I’m torn between these two. This orange one goes well with my hair, but I really like the style of the green one. Which one do you think I should wear to Chloe’s hotel pool party?”

_How can she look so relaxed and carefree after what I told her last night?_ Marinette thought with despondency and disbelief. _Does she really trust Ladybug that much? If so, her faith is misplaced._

After that somber thought, a second, more distant one came to mind. Her head perked up as her train of thought reprocessed the last thing Alya said.

“Wait, did you say Chloe’s pool party? I don’t remember anything about-”

“She sent out invitations like a month ago,” Alya reminded her. “Don’t tell me you already forgot. It’s the last get together we former students of Françoise Dupont will have before we start _lycée_.”

Marinette’s mind reached back, searching for details of said party. She vaguely recalled getting an invite on her phone a while back but couldn’t remember if she had confirmed her attendance or not. She scratched the back of her head and smiled sheepishly.

“Oh yeah, I guess I forgot. But are you sure Chloe’s even going to let me in the door?”

“It’s for _all_ former students of Françoise Dupont,” Alya emphasized with a roll of her eyes. “I know you and Chloe have never gotten along well, but she can be a good host if she has the…right motivation.”

Marinette tilted her head and eyed her friend suspiciously. “What do you mean by ‘the right motivation’?”

The serial blogger flashed a wide, mischievous smile. She then turned her phone screen to Nino, who was leaning against the closet entrance. He tipped his hat as a mode of greeting.

“Nino, why don’t you tell Marinette the good news?” she requested.

Nino took a deep calming breath and closed his eyes. When he opened them again, he raised his arms in the air and announced, “Adrien Agreste has gotten permission to go to the party!”

The young Parisian teenager did the exact opposite of taking a deep calming breath and yelped in shock, causing her phone to tumble in the air. Fortunately, said airborne phone managed to land on the longue, sparing it from any damage. She picked the phone back up and resumed the conversation in a calm fashion.

“WHAT? Impossible! His father allowed him to go to a party at night?”

Nino shrugged. “Apparently his father’s assistant managed to convince him to lighten up for once and let him have fun before school starts.”

Alya turned the phone camera back to her. “So, he will be there. And no doubt modelling the latest in Agreste male swimwear,” she added with a knowing wave of her eyebrows.

A deep shade of crimson appeared on Marinette’s face. In vain did she attempt to prevent her imagination from depicting a half-naked Adrien in her thoughts. After clearing her throat, she muttered, “How would you know that?”

“I don’t,” her friend admitted, “but he might. In any case, he will more than likely be shirtless at some point.”

Marinette became redder and covered her face with her right hand. “Can we _please_ not talk about this in front of Nino?”

“Look, I’ve known for a while,” he answered offscreen. “And don’t worry. I haven’t said anything to Captain Clueless.”

“So you’re going,” Alya concluded, not bothering to hear her friend’s answer, “so back to the task at hand. Orange or dark green bikini? I would ask my boyfriend but-”

She leveled an accusing stare at the accusing party. “He’s been less than helpful.”

“I told you already that you look sexy as hell in both. It’s impossible for me to decide!” he argued.

“Flattery will only get you so far,” she retorted with a wave of her hand. “If you’re not going to contribute, go fetch me some orange juice.”

Nino groaned and trudged toward the kitchen. “Yes, my queen.”

As Nino disappeared from earshot, Alya turned to face Marinette, still holding the two swimsuits. “So, what do you think?”

She managed a half-smile and said, “Personally, I think orange suits you.”

“Orange it is then,” she confirmed, placing the green swimsuit back on the rack, “So which swimsuit will you bring to the party? Anything special you have planned to impress him?”

Marinette covered her face with her right hand and groaned. “Don’t even start with me on that. I’m not sure I’m going to be able to hold a conversation with him. It will be a miracle if I can-”

“Avoid staring at his abs?” Alya guessed.

The blush on Marinette’s face returned with a vengeance. She averted her friend’s gaze and coughed. “I was going to say not embarrass myself, but that might be a problem as well.”

“Think of it this way. It can’t be worse than the time you mixed up your love confession letter to him with a laxative prescription.”

The baker’s daughter covered her mouth with a pillow and screamed. She laid on her side and replied, “You had to remind me of that…”

Alya’s expression softened and she briefly glanced down at the floor. When she looked up again, her facial features appeared more serious. “Look, he’s been single again for months now. You’re free to make a move if you want. And this party might be the perfect opportunity.”

Marinette took a deep breath and closed her eyes. She scratched her neck and grimaced. “I don’t know,” she admitted, “I still feel guilty about what happened with me and Luka. It still doesn’t feel right to me.”

Her best friend nodded her head as her expression became more somber. “Look, I get it. It’s ultimately your decision. But you’re not the first girl to turn to another guy when the one you like is unavailable. Don’t beat yourself up too much. Besides, you’ve already let him slip away once. You may not get another opportunity like this again.”

Marinette stared blankly at the floor for several moments, her mind adrift in a sea of tumultuous thoughts. After a long pause, she reluctantly sat up and faced Alya again. “I’ll think about it,” she promised her.

“Sounds good to me,” Alya replied.

At that moment, she appeared distracted by some notification appearing on her screen. A few seconds later, she angrily mouthed several words in Martinican Creole. She paced around her closet, taking a deep breath and then exhaling.

“Everything okay?” Marinette asked.

“Yeah, it’s just my stupid English translator,” Alya answered as she shook her head. “That American has been taking too many liberties with my blog.”

_Zeke must have refused to play by her rules,_ Marinette thought with a slight smile.

“Something funny?” her friend asked.

“No nothing,” she answered, “If you don’t mind, I think I’m going to rest now. I will see you at the pool party.”

“Take care,” Alya concluded before hanging up.

Once the call was concluded, Marinette laid down on the chaise longue, absentmindedly staring at the walls of her room. Tikki floated down towards her. She attempted to instigate a positive reaction in her chosen’s face, but her face remained unchanged. Her lip quivered with renewed anxiety.

“That’s…something to look forward to,” Tikki mentioned.

“Yes, but what about Shouwang?” Marinette asked before clutching the pillow close to her body, “what if he attacks the party? I would put everyone at risk, including Adrien.”

Tikki remained silent for a long time. After a while, she floated towards her chosen’s shoulder and embraced her. She then ascended a half meter above her face.

“He’s probably not going to make a move for several weeks at least,” Tikki guessed. “And even if he’s more active, it would be suspicious if Marinette cut herself off from her friends on social events. Plus, we know Hawkmoth keeps an eye on Chloe’s parties. If you’re repeatedly absent, it wouldn’t be that hard for him to guess your identity.”

The secret superhero grumbled under her breath and laid on her stomach. “So, if I go, I’m putting my friends at risk. But if I don’t, I’m putting my identity at risk. This is ridiculous.”

“It’s not fair,” Tikki agreed. “You’re caught in a delicate situation. But no matter what course of action you choose, I’m here to support you.” 

Marinette buried her face in her chaise longue and muttered a few choice words under her breath. She had to acknowledge that Tikki had a point. Both isolation and social engagement carried certain risks. But how should she react? After some contemplation, she came up with the semblance of a plan.

_I’ll act normal,_ she concluded, _I’ll go to the party. But I will try to keep a respectful distance from everyone. I want to keep them safe. Especially Adrien._

She shuddered as she thought over the possibility. _The last thing I want is to allow him to get hurt._

Ψ

On the second day after being subjected to demon venom, Adrien Agreste again awoke to tremendous pain around his right thigh. The previous day he had been lucky enough to not have any activities scheduled. But as his alarm went off, he realized that his schedule would force him to be more active and social than he would like to be. After reluctantly pulling himself out of bed, Natalie came and informed him that his breakfast would be ready soon. He mumbled in a groggy haze that he would take a shower and be down shortly.

With some difficulty he dragged himself into the bathroom and turned on the faucets. As steam filled the shower space, he slowly disrobed, trying not to move his right leg too much. Too much movement caused spasms of sharp pain to shoot through his legs and up his torso. After successfully removing his clothing, he hobbled into the shower space and let the water drench him. He leaned against the wall and sighed in relief. As he shampooed his hair, he looked down at his thigh. The two fang marks had scarred over and were now solid black in color. The residual pain from his encounter with Shouwang was not as strong as it was yesterday, but it was by no means easy to ignore.

Adrien placed his head directly under the stream of water as he contemplated his day. Chinese tutoring at 10 am should be easy enough, he reasoned. The photoshoot at Place des Vosges would be more of a challenge. His photographer Vincent would certainly make him move around a good bit if he wasn’t satisfied with his initial results. Even worse, he would be there with Lila. A chill went up his spine as he thought about that in more detail. It was hard enough to hide his current physical discomfort. A flawless smile would be even more difficult if she tried to make a move on him again. And then after that he had a private fencing lesson with D’Argencourt.

_Oh God…_ Adrien thought as he grimaced with dread… _that’s going to suck._

Adrien exited the shower and dried off. As he got dressed and examined his hair in the bathroom mirror, Plagg popped out and looked down on his chosen.

“You look pale,” he remarked as he crossed his arms, “are you sure you’re going to be able to handle today?”

“I can handle it,” he answered as he gripped the bathroom sink and leaned forward.

“Shen was bedridden for three days the first time he was bitten by Shouwang,” his kwami informed him.

“Shen also wasn’t a teen model with a strictly controlled schedule,” Adrien retorted. “I’ll be fine. I’m not going to shirk my responsibilities just because of this wound.”

After a quick breakfast, Adrien returned to his room and laid down on his bed, hoping to get twenty minutes of rest before his tutor arrived. He opened his workbook to try to go over the material from last week, but his brain refused to cooperate. Before he knew it, he was drifting off again and breathing deeply.

A knock from Natalie quickly woke him up again. He sat up on his bed as she entered.

“It seems there’s been a slight change of plans,” she informed him.

“What do you mean by that?”

“The agency has sent M. Chan as a replacement to M. Qian today,” she said as she turned to leave, “he’s already downstairs.”

As Natalie exited, Adrien’s face suddenly fell. A sudden onset of panic flooded his mind. He grabbed his head and looked around, contemplating his options.

He circled around his couch and asked, “Can’t I just turn into Chat Noir and get out of here?”

“What happened to ‘I’m not going to shirk my responsibilities’?” his kwami dryly asked.

“This is different!” Adrien exclaimed as he endured the pain and ran toward his window. “Plagg, claws-”

“Fleeing somewhere?” came a familiar voice from behind.

Adrien groaned as he heard his bedroom door close behind him. He reluctantly turned around to face Master Fu in the flesh. The Guardian smiled innocently as he took a seat on the couch.

“Let’s begin the lesson, shall we?” he announced as he motioned for Adrien to sit. “I think we will begin with a random conversation in Mandarin.”

The young hero sat down a meter or so away from his master. Fu cleared his throat and addressed Adrien in his native language: “ _So, do you want to explain what happened when you fought Desperada?_ ”

The teenager swallowed nervously and placed his hands on his knees before answering. “ _Ladybug offered me the snake miraculous, and I wanted to accept it. I thought that if she wouldn’t like me as Chat Noir, she might like me as a new hero._ ”

“ _So you abandoned your duties as Chat Noir for selfish reasons,_ ” Fu concluded as he shook his head.

“ _If I had refused, she might have suspected who I was_ ,” Adrien countered.

“ _But concern for your secret identity was not the reason why you accepted_ ,” Fu reminded him with a knowing stare.

Adrien’s resolve broke in the face of the accusing glare and he stared at the floor and sighed. “ _No. I got lost in the moment and I accepted when I shouldn’t have._ ”

“ _How many times did you use the snake miraculous_?”

Adrien bit his lip and placed his head in his hands. “ _I used it more than 25,000 times before I gave up_ ,” he answered.

For a few seconds Fu didn’t react at all. Then, after a ten second pause, he sighed and shook his head.

_"Timetagger may have ensured Shouwang’s return, but your carelessness laid its foundations_.”

Hot, angry tears began to fill Adrien’s eyes. He grabbed one of the cushions of the couch and squeezed it. “ _How was I supposed to know?_ ” he demanded. “ _I didn’t learn about Shouwang until two days ago_.”

“ _No,”_ Fu stated with a sigh. “ _It’s true you didn’t know what you might unleash. Perhaps I should have taken the risk of telling you both about Shouwang. Nevertheless, even if he didn’t exist, what you did was a gross abuse of power_.”

Adrien stood up and slowly walked toward the foosball table, his back facing Fu. “ _That’s easy for you to say. You’re not the one who has to spend time with the girl of your dreams. And no matter how many times you try to win her heart, it amounts to nothing_. _Try spending time in my shoes before you judge me for the Desperada incident._ ”

Fu groaned and shook his head. He stood up and put his hands behind his back, facing away from Adrien. _“You think you are the first hero to ever neglect his responsibilities in the name of love?”_

_"What do you mean?”_ Adrien asked.

Fu approached the window and stared out in the sunlight. He rubbed his forehead and sighed. _“More than a hundred years ago, there was a hero who wielded the turtle miraculous. He was deeply in love with the hero of the fox miraculous, a woman named Mei. One day this turtle hero was tasked with watching the cave Shouwang was sealed in during the month of the winter solstice, keeping watch and performing a special Guardian ritual every night to make sure the monster wouldn’t get out during that month. On the second to last night of his watch, the turtle hero learned that Mei was to be sent out the next day to deal with enemies of the Guardians in the far north of China, a journey that would keep her away from him for more than a year. He couldn’t bear that absence, so he shirked his responsibility and visited her that night. The cave hadn’t made a sound for weeks, so he thought he was safe. But Shouwang escaped that very night.”_

Adrien’s expression softened. He walked towards the couch and slowly sat down. _“That turtle hero was you, wasn’t it?”_

Plagg flew up above his chosen’s head and rolled his eyes. “What was your first clue?” he sarcastically asked.

“ _Yes,_ ” Fu answered as he leaned against the window, “ _my selfish desires that night cost me and my fellow heroes dearly. Even worse, the night I gave in to desire with my dear Mei ended up sealing her fate. Shouwang ended up devouring her sometime later because I couldn’t control myself_.”

Adrien’s cheeks turned slightly red. He cleared his throat and looked away from the Guardian as he asked, “ _Now, when you say you “visited” her that night…?_ ”

The old Guardian rubbed his temples and turned around to face the young hero. “ _This country has a rather thorough sexual education curriculum. Do I really need to spell it out for you?_ ”

Adrien bit his lip and stared down at the floor. “ _No, that won’t be necessary. But if that happened to you, why are you so upset with me?”_

Fu turned and walked toward the couch and sat down. He continued staring out the window, refusing to make eye contact. “ _I’m upset because I see history repeating itself. My foolishness as a youth has led to your foolishness. Mei and several others paid the ultimate price because I failed to fulfill my duty_. _I fear that I am about to see the same thing occur a second time._ ”

“ _Ladybug and I are not going to let that happen!_ ” Adrien protested.

“ _For your sake, I hope you’re right_ ,” the Guardian coldly replied. “ _the guilt of losing your allies’ lives to your enemy due to your poor decisions is a terrible thing to deal with._ _I pray that you don’t have to face that burden. Because it is something you will never recover from.”_

Adrien appeared lost for a moment as he contemplated the possibilities. The thought of Ladybug’s chosen allies falling one by one made him sick to his stomach. Disturbing scenarios of Rena Rogue and Carapace meeting their end due to his stupidity filled his subconscious. His hands grasped his head and he consciously tried to avoid the worst implications of these conclusions.

He sat back down on the couch and took a deep breath. The pit in his stomach seemed to grow deeper as he sat there, lost in thought. The fingers on his right hand drummed on his knee in quick succession. A small current of anger began to filter into his thoughts.

“ _Well I can’t exactly fix this now, can I?_ ” Adrien pointed out. _“Unless we want to use the rabbit miraculous to fix my mistake.”_

Fu shook his head and paced behind the couch. “ _That would likely accomplish nothing. Going back to fix your mistake would likely only make the tear in the fabric of time worse. Shouwang would be able to escape again. The damage is already done_.”

“ _Then what do you want me to do?”_ the young hero questioned, his voice beginning to elevate.

“ _I want you to learn from this error in judgment and to remain focused on your duties as a hero. I sympathize with your feelings, but you can’t afford to be distracted by them any longer._

Adrien clenched his fists together and inhaled sharply through his nose. “ _I won’t let myself get carried away again, I promise. But you said Ladybug and I have to get closer in order to get stronger. Elizabeth and Shen were a couple, so doesn’t that mean-?”_

Fu held up his hand and cut him off. “ _It’s not for me to say how your relationship will grow. I can’t say if it will be platonic or romantic.”_

The young Agreste scooted slightly on the couch and leaned towards his master. “ _But that’s the way it normally goes isn’t it? I saw how they combined their power. There was nothing platonic in the way they danced and looked at each other.”_

The Guardian avoided his gaze and glanced at the floor. Twice he opened his mouth to speak but no sound came out. As the silence deepened, Adrien’s eyebrows furrowed in mounting frustration.

“ _Is the relationship between Ladybugs and Chat Noirs normally a romantic one? Yes or no?”_ he asked, his tone growing harsher.

Fu turned to face the young hero’s penetrating stare with a stone-faced expression. “ _I can’t say,_ ” he replied.

The steady stream of angry thoughts in the teenager’s head grew into a torrent. His heart rate increased significantly as he gritted his teeth and glowered at the Guardian. He then stood up suddenly and growled, “ _Why not?!”_

He quickly regretted that abrupt movement. Several more spasms of sharp pain shot from his thigh and reverberated up his spine, prompting him to let out a slight, strangled cry of pain. He quickly sat back down, leaning back on the couch and groaning in renewed discomfort. Fu watched Adrien’s reaction and grimaced.

“ _I would advise you not to make sudden movements_ ,” he cautioned. He shot the hero a cryptic look before adding, “ _or allow yourself to lose your temper so easily_.”

Adrien ignored the concerned look from the Guardian as he rubbed his right thigh. He pushed the hair on his brow upward, feeling beads of cold sweat leaking from his scalp. He remained silent for a moment as the pain subsided, though a slow current of aggressive thoughts continued to flow through his mind.

“ _As you can see, I’m already paying for my mistake_ ,” he observed with obvious bitterness in his voice, “ _so I can promise you I will do everything I can to fix it, and make sure no one goes through the pain I’m going through or worse. Especially Ladybug_.”

“ _I have no doubt about that_ ,” Fu noted as he scratched his goatee in thought, “ _though I can only hope she is more forgiving than I am should you reveal your identities to each other, and she discovers what really happened with Desperada_.”

_Oh…f***_ , Adrien thought as he facepalmed and cursed under his breath _, I didn’t even think about that._

“ _Right, I hope so too_ ,” Adrien remarked with exasperation, “ _Is there anything else you want to say?”_

“ _Just that I will be needing back the Dog Miraculous now.”_

Adrien cast a furtive glance toward his bathroom door, and then immediately hoped the Guardian hadn’t noticed. He cleared his throat and replied, “ _I don’t think that’s a good idea_.”

Fu raised an eyebrow. “ _Explain_?”

“ _Ladybug thinks I have the Dog Miraculous. If she comes back to retrieve it and it’s not here, I’m not going to have a good answer. And if she finds out the miraculous is back with you, she’ll know you were here. If we decide it’s still not safe to reveal our identities, then…_ ”

As Adrien’s voice trailed off, Fu stared at the floor, contemplating the matter. After a ten second pause, he shook his head, apparently unconvinced.

“ _Look, it’s not going anywhere_ ,” Adrien argued, “ _it’s buried in a bunch of old towels under my sink. No one is going to touch it_.”

Plagg, who up till now had been sitting on top of Adrien’s TV and watching in feigned disinterest, finally spoke up. “I hate to admit it, but lover boy may have a point. We’re watching it like a hawk, and I don’t think we should complicate the situation more than it already is.”

With some measure of reluctance, Fu nodded in acceptance. “ _Fine, but if you do reveal your identities to each other…_ ”

Adrien threw out his hands as a broad gesture of welcome. “ _Then fill free to take it off my hands_.”

Fu checked his watch and then stood up. _“I believe we are nearing the end of our lesson_.”

“ _So it seems,_ ” Adrien responded with a sarcastic smile. “ _thank you for coming today…teacher_.”

The elderly man made a slight bow before speaking again. _“You have a right to be frustrated, but please try to understand. The bond between you and Ladybug must develop as naturally as possible. If I reveal too much too early, it could affect that trajectory and hurt you both_.”

Adrien frowned but after a moment’s pause, he returned the bow. He apologized for the outburst and promised to take the Guardian’s advice. A minute later Natalie returned and escorted “M. Chan” out of the Agreste manor. As he sat back down on his couch, he wondered in silent trepidation how Ladybug would react when she discovered the truth. Or if they would live long enough for him to find out.


End file.
